The Very Stuff of Life
by Rocks-my-socks
Summary: FF100. Midwifery, like love, is the very stuff of life. 100 drabbles and one shots, looking at the residents of Poplar, their hopes, dreams, lives and loves.
1. Sky: Jenny Lee

_Disclaimer: Call The Midwife, the characters, and the plots do not belong to me. All I have is an over active imagination and a lot of love for this show._

Call the Midwife - FF 100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Sky**

Jenny Lee's favourite sky, she realised after a year of working in Poplar, was the summer one. She had arrived as the last summer had turned to autumn, and she had then lived through the hard winter that 1957 had brought to them all. She would remember it as the year of smog and snow. And yet 1958's summer was different, brighter than any she was able to remember.

It warmed her, and shone her back, pushing her towards the next delivery and the next new life coming in to the world. There were more days when she delivered a baby than when she did not, and she could not help but smile at the thought that, maybe, just maybe, every child would have a sunny nature due to the season they were born in.

Or so said Sister Monica Joan.

It brought more smiles to her face to see the sun shone through the pillars and the windows of the convent, bringing light to dark places, showing her the route to breakfast in the morning or to her cell after a long night labour.

She loved the way it danced into the kitchen, reflecting off of Mrs B's pots and pans, as she sat down with the other nurses for lunch. Her friends and Jenny teased one another, whether it be Chummy's attempts to be the perfect housewife, Trixie's latest beau, or Cynthia's newest worry, knowing that when they went to the next dance, taking jackets was the last thing they would have to worry about.

But the colours in the evening sky were her favourites. The red, the purple, the pinks that contrasted with the grey of the docks. The royal blue coming in as she cycled home, passing the men who were going home to their wives and babies. It seemed to bring, peace quiet, to the whole East End - or at least her East End.

Words: 320

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	2. Days: Peter and Chummy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 2/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **07. Days**

When the two of them had booked the honeymoon, four days had seemed like a long enough time to have off to be together. Peter and his betrothed, Camilla, had spoken it through and they decided to go to Ramsgate.

Just by the coast. Just the two of them. For just, four days.

On the first day the two of them barely had time to do anything after the drive down, having set off after getting married that morning. After they had unpacked at the B'n'B, the two of them walked back to a bistro they had passed along the way and then toasted their beginning married life together.

They were man and wife.

After the meal the two of them went down to the beach, and walked bare foot in the sand while the sun set.

"We're not in Poplar any more, are we?" the ecstatic bride had smiled to her husband.

The next day the two of them had returned to the beach, Peter sporting a red bathing suit he had worn one summer in Brighton, Chummy, collates and a loose fitting top, which he commented covered nearly covered as much as her rain coat had** that **day.

The two of them frolicked in the sea together, shared a fish and chip (and inevitably some sand) for lunch, and then laid down to read together on their towels. He found in hard to study the traffic laws while she lay lazily by his side, quite transported by D H Lawrence.

Taking advantage of his new status, he dropped his arm about her and dropped a kiss on to her forehead. "I have never loved you more."

She looked at him and said with her eyes what she would never mind saying out loud: and you are the entire universe to me...

The third day the two of them went to a market, where Camilla found an old beat up copy of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, which she brought, 'for a laugh'. But when she turned the pages, she saw how they were covered in grease and torn, how it had been written in and marked. This book had been loved and had helped to create a marriage and a home.

Now it would do the same for another couple. At least that was something her Mater might approve of.

Peter brought her a new watch and she brought him thick gloves for the coming winter.

The fourth day contained a late breakfast which they digested slowly before packing up to come home.

As they hit the route in to London, she could not help wondering if Mrs Perry's delivery pack had been dropped off and how little Harry Giles, who had arrived two weeks early, had fared over the weekend. And she had her cubs to think of...

But when she looked back on her honeymoon six decades later, she knew it had not been the days which had mattered to her.

Not really.

It had been the nights.

It was the time when she believed with all her heart that there was no one else in the world. She knew for a fact no one had or would ever be as happy as she was when she was in his arms. She felt small and breakable and loved and cherished.

She knew for the two of them, there could never be an another. If god forbid... no. She was his wife. His only.

What had Cynthia said? Soul mates. Yes, that was what they were.

She would recall caressing his face, wrapping her arms about his shoulders and nuzzling into his neck. And afterwards, even when exhausted, the way he continued cuddling her. Not once in her childhood had she been made to feel the way he did - special.

The days after the honeymoon were different.

But the nights remained the same.

Words: 630

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	3. Passing: Frank and Peggy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 3/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **65. Passing**

The way that time passed always surprised Frank Hobson - the elder he got, the more it shocked him.

When he had been a boy, with his mother and his father, he had not registered it. He wished he had. He wished he had savoured every moment he had had with them. But when you were that young... you didn't. It seemed as if the life you were living then would go on forever.

His mother's pregnancy had rushed by and before he knew it, he had been sitting on the edge of the bed looking at his Peggy for the first time. His baby sister.

That moment had passed in a flash - but it changed his life.

The night after his father's death had taken years to pass.

The days he had spent taking care of his sister went in a flash.

As did the first year in the workhouse when the two of them had been allowed to stay together.

Yet no period in his life had passed as slowly as the three years he spent in the boy's wing, when he had been wondering when this hell was going to end and if the one shining light at the end of his very dark tunnel was even alive.

Did she remember him? Was she missing him?

He was twelve when he left the workhouse. He was sixteen before his sister did. The time between was a time of learning: how to be a fish man, how to buy and how to sell, how to take care of himself. He had to be able to cope on his own before he was able to look after her.

The two years after she returned to him was a time of peace and contentment - and that was another period of life he did not even notice the time passing. He had his sister and he had his work and he had some friends - some friends which were respectable, not like the lads he had hung around when he had been a coaster lad.

He had begun counting time again from that night. From the night he and Peggy had...

One week later, they had spoken it through - neither of them had any regrets, for they both knew after everything they had been through they would never find another person who understood what they felt.

When they were together they were safe. Why risk what the two of them had together to find a love that would not mean as much as the one they had right then?

A month passed and he felt like a newlywed.

A year passed and he realised he no longer looked at the other women about the East End, much to their annoyance. He was young, relatively good looking and had a steady business. He did not partake in drink and he was driven enough to change his life. There was many a mother who looked at him with a beady eye. He was the type they wanted for their daughter/

They moved from the room he had been renting when he had brought her freedom, to a pair of rooms and then to a flat.

And by the two of them had been about to go in to a two up, two down, 20 years had passed. And Hitler's war was imminent.

"What will I do without you?" she had asked as the two of them lay in bed together the last night before he had left.

The war had dragged. He fought from 1941 - 1945 through France and Germany, and his only solace was to write home to her, to reassure her that the two of them were not going to be apart forever. That he was going to be back and they would be together once more.

And the journey home went slower than any other time of his life since those in the workhouse.

All the time he had been in Europe, he had been worrying about her. His dad had given him a job when he was a lad: and that was to take care of her sister. Was she alright? Was she safe?

He might be the one in the front line, but she was the one in the east end, amid blitz and god knows what.

Yet he learnt it was all worth it when he stopped off of that boat and into her arms in October of 1946.

"Oh god, Peg, I've missed you. I missed you so much it hurt."

It was only when he got back from Europe that he realised that, the thing about the passing of time was just that - it did pass.

No matter how many times he and his darling were torn apart, the time would pass and the separation would always end. The workhouse, the war, whatever it was.

No one would ever tear them apart.

Words: 822

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	4. Drink: Peter

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 4/100

Universe - Future - set in 2009

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Drink**

"Dad, is there anything else I can do for you before I go? You know I can stay if you want me too." And she meant it. She really did, thought Peter. If he asked his Eleanor to move in for the next six months to take care of him, then she would.

But it wouldn't fill the hole or bring her mother back.

So all he could do was bend forward, kiss her forehead and sigh. "It has been a trying day, love ,and you need to go home to your own family and your own bed," Peter told her.

She didn't move to go to the door though.

"You can pour me and drink before you go, if you like."

Eleanor shook her head, but was glad he had given her something to do. Not that she hadn't had enough over the past week, helping her father and her siblings arrange her mother's funeral.

Peter crossed the room and sat down in what was now his arm chair, looking gingerly across the room where the sofa sat. That was where he and Camilla had always sat at night, whether they were watching the television, listening to the radio or reading... or talking...

For the past fifty years, they had finished the day together... and the two of them had never gone to bed angry.

"Whiskey?" his daughter brought him out of his thoughts.

"Yes," he said and as soon as his daughter put it in to his hand, he could smell the liquor and he was taken right back to Poplar, right back in 1957. Balled over by a menace of a bicycle...

"Thank you, sweetheart." He sighed. A faraway look was in his eyes. "What am I going to do without your mother?"

Eleanor felt her eyes dampen a little. "You'll spend time with us children, enjoy your grandkids and look forward to the day the two of you can be with her again." She said as she took his hand.

Peter nodded. It was the only thing he could do.

Words: 344

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	5. Diamond: Trixie

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 5/100

Universe - Canon/Future - 1963

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **48. Diamond**

"Isn't it beautiful?"

If the years after Poplar had been kind to any of the four women in the room then, it was the one flashing her new diamond engagement room. Six years had passed since they had all met.

One was a mother. Another a nurse in a hospital, the other a ward sister in the London General. And the last, now a soon to be bride.

Her skin was flawless, her figure still as youthful as it had been when she had got to the convent where the four of them had really had to grow up. Only her eyes were different, and that was because they were shining so brightly.

"Oh Trixie, it's beautiful!" Cynthia said, sincerely. It was - yet Jenny could not help but smile. As if the most of innocent of them would have dared said anything else.

"It's quite the thing!"

"Thanks Chum."

"Was there nothing bigger in the shop?" Jenny asked with a smile which kept in laughter. The two of them had always loved to provoke one another. Just because they were getting older and were no longer living under the same roof, that was not going to change.

Trixie rolled her eyes yet remained unruffled.

"Nothing worthy of me."

"I am sure."

It was not long until they were down to business.

"So I want Cynthia to be maid of honour with Jenny as bridesmaid and as you married before me Chum, I am just going to have to recruit your little Charles as a page boy."

"I am sure he'll be delighted - as long as we can find a dickie bow small enough."

"If we can't then we'll make one... now on to the cake," and that was it for the rest of the afternoon.

Chummy could not help but think it was not a shame that Trixie had not been born in the position she herself had been. And how wonderful it would have been for her Mater too... if she had had a daughter who was confident and beautiful and who craved a big society wedding... still, not for anything in the world did she wish her mother on Trixie. She was a good friend, after all.

"Poor Daniel - if she is like this over the wedding can you imagine how she is going to be about the house," Jenny smirked. Their hostess had gone to get some drink. Before the wedding planning was done, they were going to need it.

"Thankfully, that is none of our concern," Cynthia sighed. She was only glad that Daniel had a well paying job - he was going to need it. Trixie clearly felt she had waited long enough for this. She had her cheery read talons now. And she was going to have no expense spared.

Not on her big day.

A solemn but excitable silence fell over the room for just a moment.

"Still - I suppose at the end of the day," said Jenny grudgingly. "She really is worth it."

Chummy nodded thoughtfully. "He might have brought a rather large diamond, but he is marrying an even bigger one."

"Here, here!" said the bride to be as she walked back in to the room, wine in one hand and a rather large bar of chocolate in the other.

Words: 553

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	6. Home: Multi-Character

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 6/100

Universe - Canon (mostly)

Series 2 spoilers - slight speculation

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **90. Home**

The days after she arrived at the convent for Sister Monica Joan were hard. This was what she wanted. This was all she had wanted for a long time. She had had the calling. This was where she was meant to be.

But it did not mean the transition to being a nun was an easy one. She missed her friends. She missed her charity work even if she knew she was about to embark on much greater works.

She missed her father, even if she disliked him at the same time (nuns hated nothing, the teenager had had to remind herself) but more than that she missed her mother.

For her mother had been a kind of home.

HOME

Mary missed Ireland. Sixteen years old. No job. No home.

Only memories.

Memories of her loving pa. Memories of a man who worked hard. Memories of a tall man, with broad shoulders and kind eyes. Memories of his scent when he cuddled her close.

Memories of her precious Kathleen. Memories of a baby with skin as soft as silk. Memories of blue eyes who looked up at her adoringly for everything. Memories of her scent as she cuddled her close.

Yes. Mary missed Ireland.

She was not Dick Whittington after all.

HOME

"I know it is not much but we can make something of it, can't we?" said the forty something women to her brother.

Peggy was not much one for making decisions but with her brother in Europe for the past six years she had had to become better at it. And so when she had heard of the pre fab estate she had gone and signed a lease for one of the houses. Between the two of them they were going to be able to pay for it. And she had wanted him to have somewhere to come home too.

And so the two of them stood in their new front room.

"It has a little kitchen and we can make the second bedroom a dining room and-"

"I love it." the truth was after all the mud and bombs, Frank would love anywhere they could have a little peace and be alone.

Cupping her face, he smiled and kissed her forehead.

"I'm home."

HOME

"Oh bother," said Chummy as she struggled to light the gas. Peter had showed her so many times in the four days they had so far lived together in their marital house.

And yet she was going to have to wait for him again.

Shaking her head, she stood up, pulled the ironing board out and took out one of Peter's shirts. She had not quite mastered the art of them yet and she wanted too. There was not a wife in Poplar who could not iron her husband's shirts.

She was not going to let the side down.

"I'm home, Camilla!" there was a soft call from the door. As soon as he walked in to their living room, Peter kissed her cheek.

"Can you get the gas going? I am afraid I am yet to be able to conquer it."

"Of course, darling."

HOME

"Well, I am not going to lie - Cath, this isn't what I was expecting to come home to - but it is so much better than what I was expecting to come home too."

The sailor looked down - in each of his arms he had a son and another was in the arms of the women who he loved. Him, Cathy and the boys.

He had come home to a future.

When he had been away, she had been all he had been able to think about. And he feared that due to the fact they had only ever got one night that she was going to have forgotten him.

But there was no chance of that happening. The two of them were bound for life now.

"I love you."

"And I love you too. And we had better set a date for the wedding, eh, gel? Can't have these three growing up without my last name."

HOME

"Timothy, dinner!" the doctor called up at the stairs to his son, knowing he was going to have to do so again before he actually came down.

The two of them had never been close but things had deteriorated a little since his mother had died and he supposed that was his fault. He was trying.

But at the same time he had to work.

Going back in to the living room, he sighed. Another day done. But he did not feel as if he had come home. Not in the way he had when his Anna had been alive.

It took a woman to make a home - for him at least. That was when his mind slipped for the - hundredth? - time that day to the little Scottish nun in Nonnatus house.

"Now Timothy."

Words: 820

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	7. Stanger: Mary

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 7/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Strangers**

While she had been in England, Mary from County Mayo had met five strangers.

She had trusted the lorry driver. He had been a good man and she had known that from the off for he had reminded her so very much of her Pa. He had spoken with a thick accent - he said he was a scouse, wherever that was - but she had understood that he was offering her a lift to London and a pie to eat.

She had trusted him. And he had been good to her.

The second stranger she know knew was not as good as she had believed him to be. Well, she had thought he had been good to her at the time. She had never met anyone like Zakir. She had never thought there could be someone like Zakir. He had been so... so handsome. He had not had to feed her that first time. He had not even had to look at her, but he ha.

And she had not thought that any one was able to think evil of him. Not of him.

That had changed when she had met Jenny Lee. She had never had any real girl friends when she had been at home. She had always been far too busy helping her mother and doing her bit to try and keep some bread on the table.

She was beautiful - in a very different way to Zakir, who she had thought beautiful in his own way when they met.

But Jenny - she had a musicality to her voice. She had such wide eyes, and such intelligence. That was the sort of women she had wanted to be friends with. She was the reason she had come to England to begin with. Because she had simply wanted something better. She was so young and innocent and if Mary wanted too, she felt she was able to reach out and touch it, the pureness in her.

The fourth stranger had never been a stranger at all.

Kathleen had been unplanned, but she had never been unwanted. From the moment Mary had realised her predicament, she had been the very beat of her mother's heart.

Of all the strangers, she had been the kindness to her mother for she had taught her more about love in six weeks than most people experience in six years.

And then, unexpected and more terrible than any of the others, the fifth stranger came, wordless and invisible.

The fourth stranger was nowhere to be found. The third stranger was powerless. The second stranger didn't care. The first stranger was nowhere to be found.

And Mary's world turned to darkness.

Words: 448

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	8. Sunset: Dr Turner and Sister Bernadette

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 8/100

Universe - Future/AU

Series 2 spoilers - Speculation

The Very Stuff of Life

Prompt: Sunset

The new Mrs Turner ate the last of the strawberries, wiped her mouth and then snuggled into her husband's embrace. It had been a year of conflict. It had been a year of suffering. But it had also been a year with a happy ending.

At the start of it, she had had no idea she was going to end up here. She had been a nun. And she had been happy with her choice. She had known the man who was to be her husband for years and she had not once thought of him in a way that her vows forbade her too.

But that was when he had had a wife and she had not yet feel his eyes linger on her.

At first, she had just ignored it. She had thought it was part of the grieving process for him to zone out for time to time. She had never really been in love and so she had been unable to conceive of the pain he had felt. She just knew it had to hurt more than anything else.

And so she had made it her job to make him a tea when he had come to the convent. And she had given him a smile whenever she was able to and she was always the one to volunteer to stay behind from clinic and help him clean up.

And that was when the two of them had begun to laugh together. Really laugh. She had not thought anything of it still. She did not suppose there was anything else in the world which was more natural than two friends laughing together.

She had looked forward to the time the two of them got to spend together more and more and it was only when she begun to get butterflies in her stomach that she begun to feel guilty.

That this was not right for her after she had made her vows to her God.

And so she had tried to pull back only to find it made her miserable. It made her think about him as a man even more than she had done when the two of them had been joking and laughing together.

More even when she had sewed his button on to his jacket for him.

That had been the day when she had had to accept the way she felt.

It was not an act of friendship. It was an act of love.

She had taken a little time to come to terms with it herself - but she had not been able to keep it in for too long - and after she had spoken things through with the good doctor himself, who had confirmed he very much did feel the way about her that she did about him, she had had to go to Sister Julienne.

Surprise was the best word to describe the reaction of her Mother Abbess. She had not seen it coming any more than Sister Bernadette. The elder nun had not been unkind to her though. The Mother Abbess did not have an unkind bone in her body.

But she had felt it was her duty to see if she was able to help Sister Bernadette back to her faith before she let her go. And so she had sent her on a retreat, where she could enjoy the privilege of silence and contemplate the next move in her life.

Sister Bernadette made no contact with the man she loved during that time. At the very least, she felt she did owe that to her sisters in Christ. And yet there was not a moment he was out of her heart.

She considered her future. She could try to go back to who she was, try to live as she had before, alone.

Or she could marry and have his child and be his friend for the rest of their days.

And there was no decision to make.

Sister Julienne accepted her decision with grace. The two of them had been sisters for years - and she trusted her. "In that case, my dear, I wish you all the love and luck in the world."

She had stayed at the convent until the wedding, dressing in some hands me downs of the young nurses until her husband to be took her shopping for the first time. She continued to work as a midwife, but was out the habit, which of course gave the gossips of the east end their best weekend since the war, or so it seemed to her.

Sister Monica Joan didn't really register the change and when she did she said things that Sister Bernadette took to be encouraging. As for sister Evangelina, Bernadette - or Anne, as she had reverted to - feared she had wounded her dreadfully. She seemed to take her decision personally and for a month or so she would only ever talk to her to ask her to pass something.

No good morning and no goodnight.

But it did not stop the elder nun from coming to the wedding or stop her seeing the newlyweds off on their honeymoon, which signalled the beginning of a new and very different life for Annie Turner.

"It is a beautiful sunset tonight," she commented as she curled her fingers about her husband's jumper. The two of them had gone to Hampshire for the week, and watched the sunset on the banks of the River Test every evening.

"Isn't it?" her husband as he rubbed circles on her back.

His eyes did not leave her face.

Words: 935

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	9. How: Winnie Lawson

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 9/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None - set 1x03

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** How?**

She was a forty four year old woman. She had been married once before. She was a mother of three who had been looking for a bit of peace more than anything else.

How had it happened to her? How had she let herself be so stupid?

Winnie got up and rubbed her back. She had had a total of fourteen hours to get used to the fact that she was going to have another baby and the more she got used to that fact, the more fearful she became.

It was too late for her to do anything about it, of course. If she had found it earlier then she knew she would have been able to go and find someone who knew someone and she would have been able to make safe her marriage.

But she was too far gone. She realised she had had the quickening weeks ago and chosen to ignore it.

Turning around, she watched Ted sleep. Even when he was not awake he had a smile on his face. He had long given up any dreams he may have had of his own children. He had simply set his goal at been the best step father to her children he was able to be. He was so happy now he believed his baby was on the way that her heart bleed for him.

She had not loved him at the start - but she did love him now.

How had she not seen how wonderful he was to her?

How had she been able to go out and do what he did when she had when she had him at home?

How was it she had not understood what she had to lose?

"Win, you ok?" she was brought out of her thoughts and back into the room.

"Fine. Just need a drink of water."

"You coming straight back a'bed? You'll need your rest now, love."

"I know, Ted. I have done this before." _And you have not._

It was her mistake. She knew she should not be taking it all out on him.

But there was one thought in her head more than any other.

How on earth was she going to manage without him?

Words: 372

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	10. Stars: Jimmy and Jenny Lee

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 10/100

Universe - AU

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Stars** - what if Jenny and Jimmy had gone out on Saturday night in 2x03?

The Lady Chatterley stood alone in a deserted field. The spring night was unusually warm and she had turned over well on the way to the country. She had carried a pair of old friends and a picnic basket to a farewell that neither of them wanted to say.

The picnic basket was empty and the old friends were full as the stars come out into the sky.

"Jen, I am sorry," said Jimmy as he lay back on the grass. He knew he should not, but he could not stop his hand from placing its self on her lower back.

Sitting up at his side, she nodded with a soft smile on her face. "I know you are."

Turning, she sighed. "You know if it had not been for Gerald, then I think last year would have gone very different - if it is any consolation."

"It is. Just like if Francine was not on the scene now, the two of us would be... well, I don't want to assume but..." he trailed off.

"You can assume if you like," she sighed with a chuckle. Dreams didn't hurt anyone... did they?

"You are going to regret this," he laughed, and instinctively, she lay down by his side. He intertwined his fingers with her own.

"We would have courted for two months - and it would have been enough after all the time that we wasted when we were just friends. We would have married back home but would have got a two up, two down near the convent so that you can do the odd night shift like Chummy. We would have conceived quickly - well actually, quicker than even - it doesn't matter... We'd have had a girl first, like you and then a boy like me and she would have constantly been telling her little brother to be more careful and looking out for him. And we would have grown old together, but while I got old and flabby, you would grow old like a rose and never lose your beautiful. Not for a day. And I would have loved you our entire life long."

Reaching out, he brushed the tears from her cheeks.

"Well, you are right about one thing."

"And what would that be?"

"I do regret letting you speak so freely." In order to stop him doing so any more she put her fingers delicately over his lips, the same fingers that had played such delicate tunes while he had listened, utterly transported.

It was in his eyes she found her answer. Yes dreams hurt.

Words: 446

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	11. Work: The Young Midwives

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 11/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Work**

"I need to sleep," Trixie Franklin said as she sat on her feet, snuggled into the green sofa of the living room at Nonnatus house. With her hot chocolate drunk, her hair washed and her dinner digesting, there was very little else to do to conclude the day - save concur with her fellow midwives that they were as tired as she was herself.

All days were busy in Poplar when you were a midwife. If you were not delivering a baby, you were inevitably inspecting a home to check it was fit for a birth or doing a check up on a new born. And if there was not enough babies to keep every one of their toes (a very rare occasion indeed), then there was always the districting nursing rota to attend too.

Yet that day, Cynthia, Jenny, Chummy and Trixie had all been to separate births. All had been relatively straight forward, but had consumed the entire day, so that their checks had to be conducted as night fell and any chance of getting some of Mrs B's fruit cake slipped further and further from their fingers.

"We should all be thinking about heading up," said Chummy as she sighed.

"I haven't the energy yet," Jenny admitted as she sat in the arm chair, heading her hands.

"Tomorrow isn't going to be any different."

"You know," Cynthia said, "I do not think I knew what real work was until I got here."

"No. Nor did I." Jenny agreed.

The only consolation the girls had that night was that none of them were on call. As they eventually crossed to the stairs, they saw the door of the convent open to allow Sister Evangelina in and Sisters Julienne and Bernadette out, their delivery bags in hand.

"The nuns are the most pious people we know: and yet they say there is no rest for the wicked. Seems to me there is no rest for the good either."

"Maybe they are not as good as we suppose them to be," laughed Trixie. "Maybe they secretly have passions and longings of their own, about Fred and Doctor Turn-"

"Trixie!" Jenny said, cutting her off short.

"Their nuns, not saints, and women too!"

"Well, I don't think we should be mocking them," Chummy chimed in as she came to her door first. The other three paused.

"I am not mocking them at all - I think their choice is a brave one, I am only saying: they must wonder, occasionally, about having gone another way."

"I should be amazed if they ever get time too." Cynthia said as she crossed the corridor to get to her own room. "Goodnight."

"Night."

Once they had said good night to Chummy, arm in arm, Jenny and Trixie walked to their own rooms.

"I can't imagine it though. Choosing this life forever instead of everything else is going on in the world."

"And that, Trixie," Jenny smiled. "Is why they have a vocation and we do not."

"I beg to differ."

"You always do."

After kissing one another cheeks good night, the young midwives returned to their own rooms.

Not ten minutes had passed until all four were asleep.

Words: 534

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	12. Spirit: Molly

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 12/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Episode 1

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Spirit**

If there was one thing in the world Molly Brignall believed in, it was spirits. As she lay on the bed in the maternity home recalling how the horse had given to its foal, she remembered that.

When she was young, she had believed in spirits. She had thought she was able to see them and they were purple and blue and pink and...

And then she had had to grow up. She had had to learn that spirits were not colours, and if they were, then they were grey.

Like the metal the smithies' worked with or the colour of the docks and carriers in the harbour.

And they were even harder to break, for colours could run and fade. But spirits did not.

She had a strong spirit. Her baby had a strong spirit. Her daughter had a strong spirit.

And it was spirit which was going to bring them back to one another. She was sure of it.

Words: 162

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	13. Choices: Dr Turner and Sister Bernadette

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 13/100

Universe - AU/Future

Series 2 spoilers - Shipping

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Choices**

It had been a very close call that night for 'Bernadette' Anne Turner that night. She should have known better than to have a bath on her own when there was no one else in the house when she was eight and half months pregnant.

After all the training she had, she should know better than everyone else in fact. What if she had slipped? What if she had been unable to get out? What if...

No matter, she thought for she had got out and she had **had **to get in. It was unseasonably hot for Poplar, and feeling as big as the two up, two down that she lived in; she had just had to have a wash. Waiting for her husband to return home to her had not been much of a choice at all.

Still, it was six o'clock, no longer humid and with a soft cotton summer dress on and her hair tied in a loose pony tail, she felt quiet relaxed as she went to answer the door.

She knew better than to expect her husband to be back quite soon, and was delighted to find the group she did on her door step.

"A few more than required for a normal booking in but we came in search of lemonade too!" Trixie said as she Jenny and Cynthia came in to the house.

At the beginning, she had wondered if booking herself in with the Nonnatons had been such a good idea. She was not a faithless woman, as the chain and cross round her neck symbolised.

But she had broken her vows, and even though if she had the choice to go back and do things differently, she knew she would not, she still felt guilty when she thought on what she had done. She had said she was going to be a bride of god... but that was before she had met the man whose actual bride she had become, not that her husband was a god.

Gods didn't leave their socks on the bathroom floor and have three packs of cigarettes on the go because they kept losing them...

Asides from that, between the two of them, she and her husband could deliver the baby with their eyes shut.

And yet when she had spoken about it with Sister Julienne, she had released the girls had never been so desperate to have a expectant mother sign up with them. And for all her front, Sister Evagelina had insisted upon it too. She did not approve of her marriage but she was going to see the fruit of that marriage in to the world safely all the same.

"It's lovely to see you all, do come in."

Bernadette had turned the house back into a home not long after she had moved in and none of the young midwives were surprised to see it was of course spotlessly clean. She was a very house proud woman.

Not only that, but the fresh lick of paint and soft pastel colour meant it was full of light as well.

It was the ideal place to give birth Jenny said, with just a hint of sarcasm.

But the truth was, the mother to be could not wait for that day to come.

How many babies had she brought in to the world over the years? She had been in Poplar eight years... she had delivered at least two a week... that was sixteen hundred children, and probably a low estimate.

And yet soon, she would hold one in her arms who she would not have to give up.

"We have the crib made up and the bedding too. I gave in a brought a pair of booties and a couple of grows as well last week. I know it is bad luck... but I suppose I just need to nest a little," she sighed.

She felt that until it was out and been pronounced healthy, then anything could happen. She knew many others mothers did...

The fact was she couldn't relax until she heard her baby cry.

"I think that is safe enough, sister. You have taken good care of yourself. There's no cause for concern."

The young midwives still insisted on calling her by the title she had no right to claim anymore.

_'We can't call you Anne! It'd be too weird!'_

_'Well, just call me Bernadette then!'_

They tried, but the odd 'sister' still crept in now and again.

She was glad they had come to see her that day. With her husband working and her stepson out at play, she had been a little starved of company and it was always nice to see how the girls were getting along.

X x x

By the time her husband did get home to her, Bernadette had decided to sit down for just 'five minutes.' In other words, she was asleep in his armchair.

And she was adorable. And he was a lucky man.

Leaning down, he was shut his eyes thankfully as he kissed her forehead. He was so, so grateful for every choice she had made, every wish that had led her home to him.

Her eyes fluttered open. "You're home."

"I am," he said as he caressed her bump, greeting their unborn child.

She shifted.

"Don't get up. I am more than capable of making my own tea, dearest one," he said, as he took her hand in his. "How was your day?"

"Hot, but quite nice. The girls came over and booked me in. All we're waiting on now is baby."

"And he or she can't come too fast for my liking."

"Nor mine," she agreed as she leant forward and kissed him.

_How sweet it is, to be loved by you..._

Words: 963

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	14. Earth: Kirstin

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 14/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Episode 1

The Very Stuff of Life

Prompt: Earth

Kirstin loved to walk barefoot. She did not care what was under her feet as long as it was the solid earth and not a boat.

The first thing she did when she and her baby daughter got to the park was to take her shoes off. It was the same when they went to the beach, her favourite, for she got to feel the sand between her toes.

At home, she watched with pride and joy as her little princess stood up on the rug for the first time in their living room and as she took her first step on the wooden floor in the kitchen.

No matter where mother and daughter stood or went, they were safe, for the earth beneath them made it so. They were connected to something greater than themselves.

And for the women who had once simply been known as The Captains Daughter, that was a comforting thought.

Words: 155

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	15. Red: Len and Conchita

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 15/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Red**

She had never told him (for how on earth was she meant too when the two of them did not speak the same language?) but one of the first thing Len Warren learnt about the women he was going to spend his whole life loving, was that her favourite colour was red.

She had been wearing red the first time he had ever seen her in her village. He thought it was a dress but it was not very like the dresses he had seen the lasses wear at home. For one thing there was a lot less material and he saw a lot more than her ankles, though nothing too inappropriate.

Even then in that moment he had seen there was a spark about her. If there was one thing he had always known it was how much life there was about his 'gel. It was one of the reasons he was so passionate about her.

His Conchita had him back even though he had said no, that the two of them could not set up a home together... That it made no sense... not that, of course, she could not possibly of understood... yet one of the very happiest memories he had was the day he had seen her on the dock, refusing to allow him to leave her behind.

Then when the two of them had got back to England, he had brought her a red cardigan.

As much as the two of them had wanted to be together, she was suddenly cold all the time and she missed the Mediterranean climate she had been brought up in. She was sad, and even though his heart broke to think of it, he could only suppose that yes - she was lonely too.

Over the years that followed much changed. She had someone to talk too again for it was not long until they started their family and his babies picked up their mothers language as easily as they did their fathers. They were able to communicate for the first time through their children.

A sadder marking of the passing of time though was the fact that she got to wear less red than she had when she was a girl. He was good at his job and he made enough money to feed all of them but red dye was harder to get than black and blue and it was more expensive than the cheap fabric Maureen got to make her mother's dresses. And so it was too often the case that she had to make do with a scarf or a headband rather than a dress or a cardigan.

But every once in a while when he saw the colour red, he would shut his eyes and he would remember. And then he would take her in his arms.

And all would be as it was before.

Words: 482

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	16. Friends: The Young Midwives

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 16/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Up to 2x05

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt:** Friends**

The morning after Jenny had found Peggy and Frank Hobson in bed, wrapped in one another's arms, she had gone back to the Abbey and she had walked into the garden. For her, so far, that day had been about the cruelty of life, the suddenness of death and unendurable pain that life without love brought.

As she had approached the pig pen, she had seen Fred's ecstatic smile, Sister Evangelina trying to hide a smile behind a scowl and Sister Julienne looking alternatively between her with concern, and then the situation that they were in with a long suffering smile.

But it was none of them, nor Jimmy's arms, which really made her feel better.

In the months they had been at Nonnatus house, she and her friends had developed a short hand and an understanding. Some patients were no more than that: just patients. Others came into your life, showed you their hearts and left a bruise on your own.

Cynthia and Trixie asked no questions: only gave her a smile and a brand new piglet to hold, the young soul looking around at this brand new world. They squeezed her arm supportively, and the bruise, as fresh as it was, hurt a little less.

X x x

Chummy had said she was going to go to bed early that night and so she was surprised to see the three young midwives outside her door.

She had known the day was going to be a disaster from the moment she had got a letter from her mother to say she was going to come to the convent. The truth was she had not wanted her to come to the East End at all - she rather felt as if it belonged to her. As if it was the only thing that had really ever belonged to her. And to have her mother there was to contaminate it.

And she had been right. Twenty four hours before hand, she had been in the most loving relationship of her life and now - it was all gone. Peter was gone and the two of them were never going to be as they were again. And she had told him the only time she had ever felt small was with him and yet now, even that was a lie. Because she felt awkward and massive and tiny and insignificant all at once.

When she had got to London she had felt as if she was rather brave - but she had been cowed.

As soon as she saw the concern on her friends faces, she broke down and cried.

X x x

Cynthia was not left for a moment by Jenny the day she returned after finding the Kelly baby dead in its cot.

After she had followed Sister Evangelina's orders and had a aspirin and a hot chocolate, she had got ready for bed, and without being asked too, Jenny stayed with her till she was asleep.

"How is she?" asked Trixie when Jenny did come out of the room.

The young brunette simply shook her head.

All of them had known this had happened. In training they had seen stillborn's and cot deaths. It was the most horrible part of their job, but it was still part of it.

The two of them linked arms and left Cynthia to what would hopefully be a blissfully dreamless sleep.

X x x

"It is not your fault. None of this is your fault," said Jenny firmly as she brushed Trixie's blonde locks. Cynthia sat on her bed in front of her and seethed that her friend had been so ill used.

It had been the most dreadful night for the blonde, and Jenny could not imagine what she had been through. To go out with someone in good faith and for them too...

Well, it made her stomach turn.

"I just keep thinking-"

"In that case you mustn't. You are not to blame. Are you sure you do not want to tell Sister Julienne? We could go to the police..."

"No," Trixie said as she blinked and hastily wiped away the tear that had fallen. She was not going to let that pig have any more of her tears. "I just want to forget the entire thing."

As Jenny continued to brush her hair, Trixie light up another cigarette before turning to her friend and taking her hand.

"Thank you, thank you both."

"You'd do the same for us."

Words: 749

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	17. Snow: Lynette

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 17/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Christmas Special

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Snow**

"Mum, come have a look, it's snowing," said one of Lynette's younger brother to their mother. The red head smiled with indulgence, but the truth was, just like she had been for a lot of the past year, she was too caught up in her own little son to take too much notice.

Her boy had grown so much since the Christmas before - against all the odds she thought sadly, as she recalled the way she had abandoned him at the church steps. The young mother held on to her son tighter than she had done a moment before and kissed his forehead.

The past twelve months had not always been kind to her. The East End liked to think of its self as a place of great morality and a teenager with an illegitimate child did not suit that image. Not at all.

But she did not think she would change it for the world - she loved her boy and she loved motherhood. And she knew in her heart that no matter what else, she had her family there to support her. Her father _and_ her mother.

And they were always going to be in her corner.

"So it is," her mother sighed as she came to the window and looked out. "I love the first snow of the winter, though not the ice which follows it," she mused as she pulled her cardigan about herself.

"Can we go out and play in it?"

"You must give it time to settle first," she replied as she sat by her daughter and grandson. She smoothed his hair down, and then looked at her daughter. "Are you ok, Lyn?"

"The snow is just reminding me of last year - what I did."

"There is going to come a day when it will not - when you are as excited as your brothers are too see the snow. As excited as your son is going to be when he sees it and understands it for the first time," her mother said as she kissed her forehead.

The light would break through the darkness.

Words: 353

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	18. Sunrise: Frank and Peggy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 18/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Sunrise**

The fifteen year old blonde walked down to the river side. She had lived in London all her life, but Peggy did not think she had ever loved the Thames as much as she did then.

On the banks, sat a lad of seventeen, well built and strong, loyal and protective - and utterly hers.

Kneeling at his side, she put both her hands on his shoulders. "I woke up - you weren't there," she complained softly as he relaxed at her mere touch.

"I'm sorry," Frank told her as he kissed her hands. "I wanted to see the sunrise - it feel as if it is the first time in years I have not been at Billingsgate at this time."

Turning to face her, he shut his eyes before taking a deep breath. "Darling girl, last night - "

"Don't - it was not a mistake."

He shook his head. She was brave and passionate and strong willed when people scratched beneath the surface. "I can't say how glad I am to hear you say that."

Cupping her face, he breathed in, sure the two of them were safe in one another's love. That was the only place the two of them had ever, ever been safe. She was the only home he desired.

Peggy kissed his palm before she turned his eyes on her Frank once more.

"You said once you were never going to leave me. That you would never allow the two of us to be parted again, not for a day."

"And to that I hold, Peg," he wrapped his arm about her, allowing her to lay her head on his shoulder. He squeezed her tight to him making her laugh. "You mean more to me than any girl has ever meant to any lad. I'll love you till the end."

"And I will love you all the way into the beyond," she added. She paused for just a moment. "What of the others? What will they say?"

He shook his head. "I'd speculate if I cared: but I don't. There's no space for anyone else in my heart. Let them talk if they must - but the truth is, it is none of their business. It is only ours."

The two of the smiled at one another, before she kissed him again. A ship went by and saw nothing than the truth: a pair of sweethearts spending the morning wrapped in one another's arms, beginning a life time of love.

Words: 416

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	19. Beginnings: Jenny Lee

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 19/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

The Very Stuff of Life

Prompt: Beginnings

Jenny Lee began piano lessons when she was three. Already she was determined and more than a little precocious. Her tiny fingers were all but too small for the keys but she sat there with her tutor until she got it right - and then she would ask for the next task. Concentration came easily to her.

Jenny Lee began school when she was five. She did not always make friends easily, but it was not long until she had gained the admiration of her teachers. She never turned in an assignment late, and she always seemed to arrive for class five minutes early. Her strong will and fierce intellect kept the bullies at bay and gained her respect.

Jenny Lee began to notice boys when she was twelve. It was summer and she was out hop picking with a group of friends when she saw Jimmy for the first time. His boyish looks made her heart smiled even if she did not know it. Perhaps if he had known how he was going to feel in later years, he would have tried harder with her that day: spoken to her more. But he was only a lad of fourteen himself and could not see the future.

Jenny Lee began her affair with Gerald when she was seventeen. Her classical beauty meant that she had already turned away her fair share of suitors before she fell into the arms of a married man and dreamt of the day when she was his wife. She was young and naive and they were both, for good or ill, head over heels in love. But not all loves last.

Jenny Lee began her work in the East End when she was twenty one. Believing herself to be no longer the young and naive girl she had been, she thought she could no longer be shocked by what life threw at her. Twenty four hours later, she learnt that she was all three. It was the beginning of a lifetime's work, more than one friendship that would last her whole life and a learning curve she would never forget.

Jenny Lee began to work as a Ward Sister when she was twenty five. She missed Nonnatus. She missed Cynthia and Trixie and Chummy. But she was self assured and she knew what she was letting herself in for. Jenny understood that all the other beginnings had lead to the one which would lead her to the Matron's office: where another beginning awaited her.

Words: 420

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	20. Outsides: Jane and Sister Bernadette

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 20/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Outsides**

Jane, having been at Nonnatus House just two days, sat in the dining room on her own, which for then was just the way she liked it.

She had hoped she was going to be able to find a home here. And she knew she might yet, but - it was hard. When she had been at St Gibbons, she had known her place in the house and she knew the faces. But here everything was new, everything was unfamiliar, and she was not feeling as at home as she had hoped she was going to. She felt jumpy and over sized and if she did not yet belong there. However, she also knew these things took time.

"May I join you?"

Any other voice would have startled her, but it was so gentle that she was made no more uncomfortable than she had been beforehand.

Sister Bernadette, carrying a plate with two slices of buttered bread and a dollop of jam on the side, came into the room and gave her a smile, before she sat down silently and began to read the newspaper which Fred had brought in with him that day.

If it was one of the other nuns or midwives that had been in the room, then Sister Bernadette would have spoken of the twins she had just had the joy of delivering. Of the bonnie wee girl and the lovely young lad who were going to give their mother and father so much joy.

But it was Jane. And Bernadette knew she found even such gentle conversations a trial.

After about ten minutes of comfortable silence, they heard the giggling and the unmistakable click of high heels on the convent floor.

Sister Bernadette looked into the kitchen to see Jenny dressed in a yellow floral dress as well as Trixie in a black number which looked devastatingly beautiful on her. As for Cynthia, she had a blue frock which Sister Bernadette did not think she had seen her in before.

"Off out?" she asked them.

"Oh yes, there is a divine new dance club opened up by Whitechapel. We thought we might pop in." Said Trixie as she unconsciously swayed her hips, clearly looking forward to getting to the club. It had always been her favourite form of relaxation.

"And are any young men going with you?" asked the youngest sister of the house with a grin to rival that of the girls on her face.

"If only they were not in Africa, then we would be able to persuade Chummy to bring Peter along so we could have an escort... a police escort, indeed," laughed Trixie. "We did wonder about calling Jimmy, but Jenny is in a huff with him for some reason or other."

The look on Cynthia's face told Sister Bernadette that she was in Nurse Lee's confidence over what ever had happened. Nurse Lee herself sent the blonde a look that told her not to push the matter any further and so Nurse Franklin saw fit to light a cigarette and distracted herself... only for a moment.

"Well, are we going or not?" she asked her friends, and they both nodded.

Perhaps they could all do with a little air, mused Sister Bernadette.

"Yes, let's go," Jenny plastered a grin over her face.

"Have a wonderful time," Sister Bernadette told them as they headed towards the door.

"Don't wait up!" Trixie responded.

As the door shut, Jane came into the kitchen and observed the young Sister. She was perhaps not as good as hiding her emotions as some of the other members of the community. And Jane could not help but feel that the nun longed to raid Trixie's wardrobe for a pair of heels and a dress...

And suddenly, she did not know why, but she felt more at home. She was not the only one that felt like an outsider from time to time.

Paradoxically, that was a comforting thought.

Words:

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	21. Years: David and Margaret

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 21/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Years**

Cynthia Miller did not often follow up her cases beyond what she had too. It was not that she didn't care, but when she had been training she had got her fingers stung more than once. Being a midwife hurt from time to time. She took pleasure in her work: but it hurt.

However, when she had got the record from David Jones, she had felt compelled to go and see him.

After she had done her rounds, she picked up a bottle of whiskey and cycled around to the house that she had been in only once before. When she had gone into fetch Margaret's things, she had felt as if the house had been dead. As if the actual structure had known that it was meant to be a home to a brand new family and understood it was now only a place where a widower lived. She had never wanted to go back in... but she did not feel she had a choice.

She knocked on the door.

David opened it, and she was not surprise to see he was as pale as a ghost still, three weeks after the death of his wife.

He was also as skinny as a rank, she noted with her trained eye.

"Mr Jones," she said with a smile to let him in the door.

"Nurse Miller," he was clearly shocked she had come to see him.

"How are you?"

He looked down at the floor for a moment. She did not suppose it was a very sensible question but she had felt as if she had had to ask it.

"I am - coping." _Just about_. He barely ate and he had forgotten what sleep was. But he was coping, after a fashion.

"Here, I brought this for you," Cynthia passed over the bottle. "I wanted to thank you for the record. It was so very beautiful."

"Oh, that was to thank you for the kindness you showed to me in -" it was still too hard for him to say it - to admit out loud what had happened to himself and his wife. The two of them went into the living room and she saw it was full of packed boxes.

"You are not staying?" Cynthia realized. She did not blame him. Asides from the fact she had no right too, she had a feeling if she was in that situation she would do the same.

He shook his head. "Margaret picked out this house for the three of us. Had Helen made it, then the two of us might stay but there is nothing here for me now that the two of them are gone," he sighed.

"Where - "

"Back to the area I lived before I knew her. I can go back to teaching. I might just treat it all like it was the most marvellous dream that I have woken up from," he said as he picked up her picture and looked at it. The young nurse could only watch as his fingers danced across the image of his wife.

Cynthia had seen grief before. But she did not think she had ever seen it like this.

"Can I do anything for you?" she was a nurse and she was a midwife. It was her job to ease pain when she came across it. But she did not know how to in this case.

"You know I waited years and years to be with her. And now I have to wait years and years to be with her again," a tear fell on to his cheek.

She had met him a month ago. Yet the circumstances in which they met meant she felt she knew him well. When she looked into his future, she saw it was solitary.

"I wish - "

"I know," he said immediately. "But you can't."

Words: 633

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	22. Weeks: Jenny Lee and Gerald

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 22/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Weeks**

Week One

A week after she had met Gerald, Jenny could not help but smile when she thought of him. They had met when she became a secretary in his office. So far, she did not know a lot about him, but she knew for a fact the two of them shared a very similar sense of humour, that he was a good dresser and that she adored his smile.

Week Four

Four weeks after she had met Gerald, he gave her a fine pen which she was to use for doing her work. It was far from the normal kindness of an employer to his employee. The look in his eye when he gave it to her told her that. When she gave reports, his eyes did not always remain on her face.

And she found liked that.

Week Seven

It was seven weeks after she had met Gerald that the two of them kissed for the first time. She had been wondering what it would feel like if he were to put his lips on hers. And when he did, it was so much better than she had thought it was going to be. It was sweet and long and while he did so he run his fingers through her hair.

Jenny felt as if she was the only women alive when she was in his arms.

Week Twenty

After five months of knowing Gerald, Jenny knew she was not the only women in the world. She was not even the first woman in his life.

And yet the excitement kept the two of them together. She liked it when the two of them went out for the night. She enjoyed his gifts. She lived for going into the office.

But it was not always going to be like this, she told herself. One day the two of them were going to be together always. One day, she would be the first women of his life.

Week Thirty Four

She was still waiting. Six months since the two of them had met, she was no closer to be his wife than she had been when she went for the interview to become his secretary.

He loved her. She knew he loved her for he told her often enough. But feeling it was different...

Week Forty Five

Forty five weeks she had known the man she loved. Gerald is still devoted to her, she knows it. But the two of them were not as loving to one another as they were once upon a time. He does not seem to make as much time for her was he once did and the most worrying thing is that she is beginning not to mind so very much.

She is beginning to see that the two of them cannot be together the way she had dreamed they were. But she cannot admit it yet. For to admit that was to break her own heart.

And nothing scared her more than that.

Week Fifty Two

"Jenny, the two of us both know I cannot leave my wife."

The week before she had given him the ultimatum. She told him - that he had to give one of them up... either her or his wife.

"Then there is nothing more for the two of us to say."

"Don't be like that Jen."

But she shook her head. She couldn't do this. Not even for another week.

Words: 574

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	23. Death: Joe Collett

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 23/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Death **

Cythia and Trixie came to Jenny's room the night after she had buried old Joe Collett. Her upset was obvious and all over her face... the two of them had grown close. When Sister Julienne had said he was an interesting old man, she had been telling the truth. Jenny doubted a lie had ever left her lips.

But she had not mentioned how happy and sweet and joyful he was. How his quiet gratefulness had inspired something in her she was not able to name.

Yet even that made her angry. After a life like that, he had had a total of two mourners. Herself and Jimmy. The two of them had met him not six months before he had died.

It just did not seem right. How was that?

"He was so ... generous," she sighed as Trixie ran a brush threw her hair. "He had nothing but he was generous... I just cannot believe there are not more people who are here to miss him."

But then all and everyone he had known had gone on before him.

"I think it was enough for him that you will miss him," Cynthia told her.

But Jenny was already lost in her own thoughts.

As much as she was going to miss him, he was with his Sally once more. The women he had loved his whole life long. He was going to be with the sons his wife had given him once more as well. He was out of the abominable conditions he never seemed to acknowledge. His sores were not going to hurt him anymore.

Joe had not feared death. He had been a good man. He had been an old and loving man.

And one who had been ready to meet his maker.

She could only hope that when her own time came, she too could meet death as he had.

"I love our job... but sometime I hate it too," she admitted to her friends.

They nodded in agreement.

Words: 335

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	24. Music: Dr Turner and Sister Bernadette

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 24/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None (just a lot of silliness I'm afraid)

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Music**

"Thank you so very much for coming last night. I am so sorry it turned out to be nothing for concern in the end," the young nun said as she came out of the house where between herself and Doctor Turner, they had just delivered a little girl. One day, thanks to the skill of the pair, that little girl was now going to be able to run riot on the streets of Poplar.

It had been a long night for the two of them, but somehow, as they stepped out of the house into the fresh morning air, it did not feel so.

"Sister Bernadette, you are one of the most capable midwives I have ever come across. I never mind coming out when you think you need help."

The two of the strolled along quietly as they headed towards their car and bike respectively.

"It is quite a ride back to the convent; would you like a lift back?"

"No, thank you Doctor. If I can ride out here then I am surely I am capable of riding back."

He should have expected such an answer from the intensely practical but sweet young nun. It was then that the two of them smelt it.

Not so very far away from the two of them, a stall selling bacon sandwiches.

It was never just the mother who was left starving hungry after an all night labour.

The doctor turned just in time to see the sister at his side having just the same thought - and then her face changed as she remembered she had to get back to the convent.

But he was not going to let her go that easily. A bacon sandwich after the night the two of them had been through seemed little to ask.

"Two bacon sarnies," he asked as he went up to the van and turned to see the nun shaking her head before she caved in. They did smell good.

And she was rather hungry.

"It is the very least you deserve, if you will not let me drive you back. You can't ride on an empty stomach. Eat it - doctor's orders," he teased, he told her as he passed it to her, their hands brushing as they did so.

"Thank you."

The two of them ate quietly, the only noise being that from the docks which were never far away when you were in the East End of London and the wireless that played on the stall.

Sister Bernadette turned to look at it, and it was not long till the woman on it saw her looking.

"It's new, that is, Sister."

"It's lovely - I don't think I know this song tough."

"Fats Domino - he's got a boo'tiful voice," she said as she turned it up.

_I'm not trying to be smart__**  
**__I'm not trying to__break__your heart__**  
**__But if I ask you__for a date__**  
**__Will you tell me that I'm not too late_

_I want to hold your hand__**  
**__Please let me hold your hand__**  
**__I want to hold your hand__**  
**__Please let me hold your hand_

Bernadette was more than able to see why she liked it so much. The lyrics were lovely and the voice singing, deep and strong. Maybe this was the sort of music Jenny and Trixie listened to when they were dancing.

She turned to face the doctor once more to see he was already looking at her, and probably had been all the time she had been getting lost in the music. She would have found it a little unnerving, had he not got a dollop of tomato sauce in the corner of his mouth.

Instead, she simply offered him a handkerchief. He took the hint.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Not at al. Thank you very much for my breakfast," She did feel much more able to ride the eight miles home.

"Goodbye, Sister Bernadette," said Doctor Turner as she headed towards her bike once more, gave him a parting smile as she got on and rode away.

"You know, you've still got some there, don'tcha' lovvie?" said the stool holder behind him as her eye brows rose in amusement.

"No," he brought the handkerchief to his mouth. "No, I didn't."

Words: 713

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	25. Touch: Peter and Chummy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 25/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x07

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Touch**

"If we did stay on for another six months, just think of all the other changes we are going to be able to see. Just think of what else we can do while we're here."

To hear him talk, any one would think that it was Peter Noakes and not his wife who had wanted to up sticks for six months to go and work in Africa. And for that, his wife loved him. She couldn't love him anymore. He had done everything she had ever wanted without asking why. He had given her his support unfailingly.

But now that he wished to stay, she felt guilty. Because she knew the reason the two of them had to go home. And they did **have **too.

"Camilla, what it is?" he asked when he saw the look on her face.

"It is just that you are so lovely," she sighed as she felt her heart swell. "You're the best chap on earth and your mine."

"Lucky you," Peter smiled as he came and put his arms about her. "Now what it is? You're worrying. I can always tell."

"I know you can," she nodded. "I am so happy that we did this. That we took the time away from London. We really know what stuff each other are made of now... but it - I would stay, Peter, if it were only the two of us we had to consider... but it isn't."

Peter looked at her bemused. "I know the sisters rely on you but I am sure they won't-"

But she was shaking her head.

"It is not the dear Sisters of Nonnatus I refer too, though I miss them an awful amount," she said as she took his hand and placed it tenderly upon her lower stomach. She covered his hand with her own. "There are going to be three of us soon."

As the realization that fatherhood was not so far away for him as he thought it had been five minutes before hand, Peter let out a nervous laugh. "You're..."

"Pregnant. Or at least, that is what we call it on Tuesday afternoon clinic," she said nervously.

Peter laughed and then looked at her, slightly stunned. "We're having a baby."

She nodded, leant towards her husband and kissed him. "Are you happy?"

He slowly nodded, and then gave her the biggest smile she had ever seen on his face.

"I'm not sure happy 0ies what I am feeling justice," he replied as he held her close.

A perfect silence took the room as the news sank in for the two of them...

"Then we must go home," he nodded, dreams of any other adventures forgotten.

"You understand it wouldn't feel right to have it anywhere else? I need Jenny and Trixie and Cynthia with me when I'm having our baby. I don't want anyone else." They were her friends. She trusted them instinctively, above all others, save the nuns they lived with.

"Well then, you won't have to have anyone else. I understand perfectly."

Just like you always do darling, she thought as she shut her eyes and continued to bath in his affection for her.

Words: 542

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	26. Moon: Jane

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 26/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x067

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Moon**

Jane Sutton felt as if she was able to dance that night. It was a feeling she had so rarely experienced that she did not know if she wanted to trust it. But as she looked out into the courtyard where her friends sat celebrating the return of Nurse Noakes and her husband (as well as toasting marshmallows), she knew she could.

Chummy had been ever so kind to her, bringing her back a gift from Africa. It had been the last thing in the world that she had expected. After all, the two of them had never met. Why should she?

But it turned out that Chummy was one of the most thoughtful women in the world.

Dancing around the living room that day, she had felt something else that she had never experience before. The feeling of being at home: belonging: being in just the right place, at just the right time.

It had made her feel perfect, for just a second, as if she had always been wanted there. And that was all she had needed.

Of course, it had left her rather tired, and so it was that while everyone else was outside, she was getting ready for bed.

But if she had wanted to go out in to the court yard, she knew there would be a seat for her around that camp fire.

And for that night, that alone was enough.

Words: 237

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	27. Light: Sister Evangelina

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 27/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Light**

Some moments in time stay with us forever. They are generally not situation's we would find ourselves in normally and by their very definition are out of the ordinary.

That was why Sister Evangelina did not know why that morning, when she had come out of the shelter had stuck in her mind so much.

As a girl she had been brought up in Reading, but from the moment she got to London and the East End she knew she had found her real home. This was what God had meant for her. To be here, among these people, for good or for ill.

_For better, for worse, in sickness and in health..._

She might have no wedding, but she was a bride.

She saw Poplar through the nineteen - thirties. She cycled through the streets and she delivered babies and smiles as the East End struggled on.

And then the war came. And that was when they were able to show their real strength.

Hitler could bomb out there houses, destroy the landscape that they all knew and loved. He could even kill them. But the one thing he was never going to be able to do was break them.

The East End would never bow, would never be defeated. As always, they would make the very best of what they had, whether that be a communal bowl of gruel or soup for dinner or a pile of rubble where a home had once stood.

And seeing the courage of the men and women she lived among and loved, brought tears to the usually dry eyes of the stout hearted Sister.

When she knelt before her lord, she prayed for them, above all others. Above her sisters, above her family, above the novices. For those who had to face the V2s and god knows what else... and _especially _for those who had to do so while they carried a child in their womb.

It had been a usual morning for the early 1940s. Just as her and her sisters had tried to go to bed the night before, the air raid siren had gone off and all hope of a good night's sleep were wiped out. How she missed the privilege of silence! The sisters had gone straight to the shelter, helped give out the tea and had joined in the sing song, only trying to sleep once all the children were themselves lost to dreams.

There was no reason why that morning should have stayed in her mind, but the sun was a little brighter. And when she had looked out into the morning light, she had seen - something.

Some might call it hope. She'd call it God. But years later, she would look back on that morning with a smile, knowing that light had given her the strength to fight on.

And when VE Day came, she would give especial thanks.

Words: 486

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	28. Air: Doctor Turner

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 28/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Air**

"It may be heavy to take around to the women but it is so worth it. The births with gas and air are a lot easier than those without," said Doctor Turner as he sat down at the table with Sister Julienne.

She gave him one of her bright smiles and nodded. "I am glad to hear it, though there have been some concerns raised here that it may be a little too much for your back, lugging the machine up and down stairs. We do not want you, yourself unwell."

The doctor gave a gentle laugh. "Please thank Sister Evangelina for her concern," he said as he raised his eye brows. He had no doubt to who had been raising their concerns. "But what would be the point in us having this revolutionary new machine and then not using it? My back is fine - and many more labours will go more smoothly with it." That was the underlying point.

He said it so firmly that she had no choice but to nod and hold her tongue. It was quite clear to her that he was set on many more expectant mothers using it, and she had to say she rather agreed with him. she had so far only attended two births with the new machine, but it had been quite miraculous.

"Very well," she nodded. It went without saying that the two of them trusted one another's professional judgement explicitly. How could you not when you worked in the community they did?

Without mutual trust, neither of them would be able to get anything done.

"Can I get you a cup of tea doctor?" she said as she noticed him yawning and wondered if he had been out on a late delivery.

"That would be most appreciated."

Words: 300

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	29. Thunder: Fred and his daughters

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 29/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08 - Fred's past

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt:** Thunder**

"And there was me hoping it was going to be nice for your first night home," Dolly said to her father as she sat down by his side on the settee in Nonnatus House.

The two of them were not really at home. She was not even sure that the two of them had a home any more. The one they had had before the war was levelled, just like so many of the houses of the East End. But they would find another.

Until they did though, the Sister's had said they were welcomed to stay, which was a Godsend. Her mother had been close with Sister Jesu and along with Frank Hobson, her father had always been the go to man if the Sisters had a problem they needed sorting. They were not going to see them out on the streets.

Her father gave her a smile and took her hand, as the thunder clapped over the convent once more.

"It's nice enough for me."

She had been eight years old when he had left for the front lines. She was a young woman of fourteen now. The war had ripped far too many of them from their girlhood far too soon and he feared that he could not give her childhood back to her.

He certainly could not give her mother back. Swallowing back the lump in his throat which appeared whenever he remember his Edie, Fred blinked.

He had gone to war for her and for their babies, to protect them all from Hitler. But he hadn't realised how open the backdoor was going to be. Had he known the blitz was coming, he would never have left. God only knows what he could have done to stop it, but he could have done _something _if he was there, instead of being hundreds of miles away.

His daughter squeezed his hand and brought him back. He had her at least.

And his one, he thought as Marlene came into sight. Poor baby. She had been his little faithful shadow once upon a time. When they had listened to Chamberlain announce the war, she had been in his arms, her head buried in his shoulder. She didn't understand, how could she? But she had known her daddy was going to go away and she had sobbed all night, begging him to stay.

If only he had listened to her.

His Marlene was ten now, this daughter of his and she barely remembered him. That day when he had come on to the docks, Dolly had been the one who had thrown herself into his arms and laughed and smiled, rejoicing he was home. Marlene had hung back.

Who was this old man, this soldier? For the past six years, asides the odd, infrequent piece of leave, he had been nothing more than a scribbled name on a letter home.

She looked down as he caught her eyes, and he saw she carried something in hands. A stuff bear.

She, at least, was still a child. And that was further enforced a moment later, when a clap of thunder sounded. It really was quiet close to them.

Marlene, shyness forgotten, ran to the nearest point of safety: his arms.

She was soon settled in his embrace, her spindly little legs resting in her sister lap.

"Is it the bombs again?" she whispered.

"Nah, my little frog. Just the thunder. Nothings gonna get you while I'm here," he told her, as he had done after countless bad dreams and thunder storms before the war.

She smiled, and he had a feeling he had at last stirred a memory with her. For just a moment, she looked into his face and traced his cheek with one of her cold little fingers, before becoming embarrassed once more. She put her head on his shoulder, and looked at the bear.

"I never met this little fella before," he realised. This was definitely a new bear. "Whats 'is nme?"

The two girls looked at one another, smiled and then laughed.

"What am I missing?" he asked with confusion, looking from one daughter to another.

"Ma brought that for Marlene a couple of days you left," Dolly explained. "She missed you so much that Ma told her to cuddle that and it were like she were cuddln' you," she said as the amusement left her voice.

For all the joking, it had been a horrible time for all three of them, the teenager remembered. They had had the best dad in the East End, hard enough to work day and night for them, but far too soft to ever raise his hand to them. A real man. That was what her mother had referred to her husband as. Suddenly, he was gone and there was no knowing when he was going to be back. If he was going to be back.

"Well," he said as he put his arm about Dolly. "You've both got me to hug now. But what's so funny about the bear?"

"Well, Mummy said I should name him after you," Marlene told her father with big, solemn eyes, the exact same colour as his own.

"So, he's call Fred."

Marlene shook her head. "No, dad."

"So he is called..."

"Bugger."

"Excuse me?"

"Daft Old Bugger to be precise. That was what mummy always called you."

For a moment, Fred didn't know whether to tell her off for her language or laugh. In the end, the decision was taken away from him, as he looked at the girls. Dolly had creased into fits of giggles, and Marlene was looking up at him with a cheeky, nervous smile... and it wasn't long until he himself was laughing, in a way he had not done in six long, humourless years.

Once that the three of them had composed themselves, they lapsed into silence. Marlene snuggled into her father, her little arm about him as she shut her eyes. On the opposite side, still with her sisters legs across her, Dolly lay her head on her father's shoulder, a smile on her face.

They might be motherless and homeless, but they had one another. And for that moment, it was enough. As the thunder clapped over head, Dolly joined her sister in sleep. It was deep and dreamless and peaceful for both girls.

As for Fred, for an hour after his daughters had gone to sleep, he kept his eyes open, going over the time they had had together in his head, before the war and that day.

He knew he had his faults. And he knew he was going to struggle without his wife. But he would try... he would try for Edie, for Dolly and Marlene. He wouldn't always get it right. But his girls would have good shoes, hot dinners and a happy home... The third would be the hardest to achieve now they were on their own... but time and time again, the East End had proved making do was their specialty.

He placed a kiss on each of their forehead and shut his eyes.

"Now there is a sight to warm your heart," Sister Julienne smiled from the kitchen later that night as she and Sister Evangelina returned from another successful delivery. Both were rather wet from the weather and eager to wash and go to bed, but were more the willing to pause for a moment to witness such a scene.

She nodded. After what the three of them had been through, it truly was.

Before she headed up to bed, Sister Evangelina crept in and covered the father and his daughters with a blanket.

"Welcome home, Frederick."

Words: 1281

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	30. Months: Multi-Character

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 30/100

Universe - Canon/Future

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Months**

**One**

Conchita never knew if she was pregnant. After over twenty children, it was no surprise that things had become irregular. It was always the same. She had a baby, she had month alone', feeding her child, nursing them, playing with the elder children, thinking, _no_. This time it was going to be different. She had had enough babies and it was time to put those she had first. She did not think she could take another roll of the eyes from Maureen when she told her that she was once more with child.

And then she looked at her husband or he did something lovely for her, as he always did... and he would put her in a passion... and the two of them would go upstairs... and nine months later, there was a new little Warren in the world.

**Two**

Shirley Redman knew when she was two months gone but said nothing to her Ron. She smiled a little more than she had before, but the memory of her dead son was still so strong that she did not wish to take too much joy from knowing she had a child in her womb - nor would she until she had an alive daughter or son in her arms.

For that month, she would embrace her husband more and enjoy her secret quietly, and pray for happier days.

**Three**

When she was three months gone and knew for sure she was going to have a baby, Ruby Roberts ran out into the street and shouted to Douglas to get in the house. She had some news she had to tell him.

He welcomed the fact she was carrying another of their babies with such joy that it increased her own, which she had not thought was possible.

"Our boy is going to be the most handsome lad in all of Poplar," he said as he had spun her round. The two of them had their pretty princesses. It was time they had a boy.

**Four**

Mary was four months gone when she ran away from the brothel in terror. She had known for a little longer and had been planning her escape ever since. There were a lot of things she would allow other people to do to her. But she would not let anyone take her baby. Nor would she allow anyone to hurt it.

England had not been the fresh start the young girl had so prayed it was going to be. But the baby - that could mean a whole new world for her. And when she thought of motherhood, she felt her heart swell. She wanted to hold her baby to her heart and cradle it and tell it how precious it was to her.

As long as she kept the two of them together, then things were going to be ok.

**Five**

Cathy said goodbye to Billy when she was five months gone. It is time for him to leave Hull, to go back to sea. It was almost more than she could bare but she sent him off with a smile. The two of them knew the situation they were in was not perfect. The two of them were their twenties and they had not swoon before god that they are going to love one another for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse...

He told her he would off and make his fortune and then he would write to her, for her and the baby to come to London and be with him.

That the situation was not forever.

**Six**

Brenda was six months gone when she got the date for her caesarean section. It was a week before she would have been due to have it naturally. With any luck it would all go to plan easily...

When she told her Bertie, he gave her a smile. He could see she was afraid. But she was excited too, and when she spoke of their child, she became animated in a way he had never seen her before. This one was not like the others. This one had a chance. A really good chance.

**Seven **

Shelagh Turner stopped working nights when she hit the seven month mark in her first pregnancy. Though she would still work during the day and go to Tuesday clinics, it was time for her to put her feet up and rest a little.

Her evenings generally included cooking dinner (something which would keep and still be nice for Patrick when he got in) for her and Timothy and then play a board game with her stepson until his bed time. Inevitably, the two of them would sit quietly on the sofa together reading, 'for just five more minutes!' before he did go up.

Not long after, she would go to bed in her nightgown and one of her husband's V neck jumpers and wait up for him. Her day did not finish until the two of them had had a kiss, as far as she was concerned.

**Eight**

Winnie Lawson was eight months gone when she learnt she was pregnant - and that was when the nail biting fear begun. She had just begun to fall for Ted, to understand what she had in him, to see his real charm... That was when she pushed him away. The day was nearing when he was going to throw her out anyway, so what else was she to do?

**Nine **

Chummy was home when she was nine months pregnant. She had do hoped she was going to have the baby in Poplar and that was a dream which had come true.

As she lay in bed next to Peter under the roof of the convent, she could not help but smile.

Cynthia and Jenny and Trixie were close, as well as Sister Evangelina. Nothing was going to go wrong.

She had the friends she trusted and the man she loved... and very soon, she was going to have her very own baby in her arms. It was while she was remembering the clothes she and her friends had made for the coming child, that she drifted off to sleep.

If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was her baby would be well clothed and well loved.

Words: 1054

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	31. Lovers: Jimmy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 20/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

The Very Stuff of Life

Prompt: Lovers

It was only on the day of his wedding that Jimmy really gave up all thought of being with Jenny. As long as the two of them had both been free, there had always been a chance he might have been able to bowl her over. He had been close to that goal too; he thought when they had met back up. The last few months, she had changed towards him, was softer...

But on the morning of his marriage to Francesca, he knew it was never going to be.

For the hundredth time, he cursed Gerald. He had never met him, but he did not have to know that he hated him.

He hated him on principal. He hated him for what he had done to Jen and the way he had treated her. He hated him for the way he had used her when she had been so young. And he loathed him for breaking her heart, which in another life, may have eventually become Jimmy's most prized charge.

Perhaps most selfishly of all, and for this he hated_ himself_, he hated Gerald for making Jenny's his mistress. If he had not and she had not had that experience, then even as he said 'I do' to Francine, he could possibly have had the reassurance that Jenny and he would at least be lovers.

As he looked in the mirror and straightened his bow tie, he wondered if the two of them really would have been able to do it to the mother of his child. He hoped not.

But they would never know... and perhaps that was just as well that they never had that choice.

Words: 280

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	32. Smell: Shelagh

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 32/100

Universe - Canon?/Future?

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt:** Smell**

Shelia loved the way her home on Kennilworth Road smelt.

It smelt of strong tea, brewed every morning while she and Timothy got ready for clinic and school respectively. She would leave it full for when Patrick came down the stairs, just a little later than the two of them, for sleeping in was one of his vices she was to learn.

Her home smelt of Hendleys, smoked by her husband when he was going over paper work at night and herself when she was doing the laundry. They reminded her of the happy childhood she had - she hoped in later years, they would remind Timothy of his own happy childhood.

It smelt of 4711, a scent used by herself as well as her husband. A scent used by half of the East End. Both applied it sparsely, she after her morning wash and her husband after he had shaved. It lingered upstairs.

The other smell which she so associated with home was dirt and mud brought in by Timothy as he conducted his next experiment, on worms and snails. She loved their little boy and his innocence.

And in turn, Timothy loved the small of her baking. Bread and cakes and stews and casseroles... long gone were the days of fish and chips six days a week.

That was what home smelt of, Shelagh thought to herself.

Of life. And of family. And everything that came with it.

Words: 241

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	33. Thanksgiving: Evangelina and Julienne

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 33/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Thanksgiving**

When the telephone came, it seemed as if the entire convent, not just the people who lived in it, was able to breathe again. As if the very bricks let out a sigh...

Chummy was ill, but would recover, and she had been delivered of a rather perfect little son.

Trixie burst into further tears as Cynthia went to make another round of tea. It was Jane, rather uncharacteristically, who asked that something a little stronger be put in hers. The nuns and midwives nodded, and soon they all had a lacing of brandy to calm their nerves.

Within twenty seconds of the tray being brought through from the kitchen, only one mug remained on it.

"Where's Sister Evangelina gone?" asked Jenny.

Sister Julienne gave the nurse a knowing look, abandoned her drink and left the room. She knew and as her superior, felt it was her responsibility to check on the stout Sister, not that she would disturb her.

It had not been an easy day for the Mother Abbess. She had not only to deal with the difficulties Nurse Noakes had faced in childbirth, but she had also had to let Sis - Shelagh go. The former affected her so, not because she was not familiar with the situation, but because the one in it was among her charges, or had been before she had got married. The latter, because it was so unexpected... She had had mere weeks to prepare for the fact that her dear friend was leaving the Order.

Selfishly, suddenly, she felt quite alone, for which she chided herself.

As she peeped into the chapel, she saw her Sister on her knees, rosary in hand, with tears on her face as she gave thanks for Chummy and the baby's health. Sister Julienne was not the only one who had nearly someone they loved as a daughter, she admitted to herself...

But Shelagh was not going to be gone from her life. She would still see her most days. The only difference was, they would no longer live together and her first duty was going to be to her husband and child... god willing, eventually, children... Shelagh had gained a family. Just as Chummy had gained a son.

So, perhaps no one had lost anything... and Sister Julienne knew in her heart she had reason to give thanks too.

She would thank the lord that both young midwives had recovered and had their health intact. She would thank the lord that Shelagh was going to know a true and deep love. And she would thank the lord that she had been allowed to be a part of her story.

Words: 437

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	34. When: Chummy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 34/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **When?**

Trixie was the first one to throw her arms about Chummy. She was squealing with delight. What with the trial of Sister Monica Joan, it had seemed as if the residences of Nonnatus had been out of sorts of late.

They had needed some good news. And the news that Chummy was going to be Mrs Camilla Noakes before the year was out... well, that was better than good news.

"When? When are the two of you to be married?" the blonde asked as she let her friend go and sat down on Jenny's bed.

Cynthia began pouring the drinks. This was one occasion when they all needed a little alcohol.

"Golly, not long I hope. We are going to go and see the vicar tomorrow."

"How, Chummy, that is the most marvellous news!" said Jenny as she took the baby sham she was offered.

"I know. I can't quite believe it yet."

It had been the most wonderful day. First the delivery of the Powel triplets during the night... and then her and Peter reuniting...

He had asked her to become his wife as she lay in his arms, after they had consummated their love. She had had no idea she could feel like that. So small and precious and treasured...

Peter was the best man in the whole world.

"I am so glad," Cynthia said as she put her arm round Chummy. She lead the other girls in raising their glasses.

"To Mrs Camilla Noakes."

If there had ever been anything worth toasting, that was it.

Words: 259

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	35. Fixed: Fred and his daughters

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 35/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt:** Fixed**

"It ain't much girls but the three of us can make the most of it," said Fred as he brought it the last of their belongings to the new house.

Between the three of them they had four suitcases. He had never been a rich man, but in the thirties they had had more than this. And they were going to have more again, he swore it.

Smiling, he saw it was Dolly who was most able to match his own. The two of them were always quite similar. The same temperament...

Marlene, in spite of always being her pa's girl, was much more like her mother in her character. She was nervous and a little reserved about new things.

She didn't like change. Which was why the past six years had gone so hard with her... First she had been without her father for a stretch. And then she had lost her mother for good. When the war had begun she had been one of five siblings. Now she was one of two.

To top it all off she now had to move into a new house...

"Come on, Marl, it'll be home before long."

She looked about the room with the wallpaper peeling off and the damp. It was a palace compared to what some people were living in. She knew she had no right to be so ungrateful.

She summoned a smile. "Course, pa."

"Let's go see the kitchen," Dolly suggested. She had a feeling she was going to be doing the majority of the cooking now.

"It'll take some fixing up, dad," she said on sight of it. She didn't need to look closer to know it was broken.

Her sister took her hand. "Are we going to be ok?"

There was so many questions in her mind. Were the three of them going to be ok? Was the house going to be okl? How were they ever going to cope without their mother?

"Fine, ducky," said her sister with more confidence than she felt. "We'll get it all fixed up."

The East End was good at patching things up. And so was their dad.

Words: 360

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	36. Enemies: Sister Julienne

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 36/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Enemies **

Sometimes it seemed to Sister Julienne that the only real enemy the people of the East End had to fear was poverty.

She heard the young girls rail against them. How the mothers did not care enough and how the men were rude, bad tempered and over worked.

But would they be like that if they had clean houses, if they had the reassurance their sons and their daughters were going to live to a ripe old age, if they were sure where the next pay check was going to come from?

She guessed they'd be a different set of characters all together.

As Sister Julienne rode through the community she had served and would serve, God willing, all her life long, she simply understood. She knew when to ask questions and when she should just smile. She understood if a hug or a pray would be more welcomed. She knew when to stay and when to go.

She did not think there world was made up of good and bad people. Even if she did she would have no right to judge them.

All she could do was to task she had been set... and if she got the chances to eradicate poverty where she found it... well, as far as she was concerned, that was a bonus.

Words: 220

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	37. Hands: Shelagh and Patrick

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 37/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08

**The Very Stuff of Life **

Prompt: **Hands**

They had shaken hands the very first time they had ever met.

She had been quite a nervous young midwife, in a new religious community as well as a new social community. Everything had been new.

But even then, his hands had been warm and his eyes had been welcoming. It had not crossed her mind that the two of them should ever be anything more than friends.

X x x

They passed medical instruments, patient's notes, back and forth, hand to hand.

The admiration for one another's work ethic and morals was almost instant. She had heard it said respect had to be earned. But she did not know if that were true, for it seemed to her, he had respected her almost instantly and trusted her judgement absolutely from the first day.

There was no greater gift he could give her.

X x x

Hers were the hands that sewed the spare button on to his coat. He had noticed the day it was done, but he had said nothing. He didn't even know who had done it.

It was only later that day, when he had gone to see Sister Julienne about a patient, that he had seen her remove the rest of the real of thread from her habit, which solved the mystery. She did not see him watching her and he did not thank her for what she had done for fear he would embarrass her.

But he never forgot her stowing the evidence away as if it was illegal contraband until the day he died.

X x x

His were the hands he had to control when Meg Carter hit her.

Sister Bernadette, to him, was one of the fairest minded and gentle creatures which her God had ever created. She was fiercely intelligent, had a sense of humour and a twinkle in her eye that somehow he had missed until the past few weeks.

He cannot put into words how guilty he feels for that. He should not notice these things, nor admit them to his heart.

But he can't help it. And the idea that anyone would strike her repeals him and almost blinds him with rage.

X x x

His is the hand that passes her the cigarette. She cannot decide whether they are more or less forbidden to her now than when she was fourteen. But she takes a puff and they smell and taste of home and they make him all the more familiar to her.

X x x

Hers are the hand which tend Timothy's graze with such tender care. She is gentle beyond belief, anxious not to hurt this motherless boy who she finds herself caring about more and more.

X x x

His is the hand that covers the back of hers as he tenders _her _graze.

He examines the wound, and assesses it. It is not deep - indeed there is no need for amputation. But then his eyes stray to the rest of her hand. Her palm has deep lines running across it, and he does not have to touch it to know how soft it would be.

It is in contrast to the back of her hands. They are work worn. She goes out at all hours, in all weathers and it shows. Her hands are cracked and as a nun, she cannot spend money on a good moisturiser to soothe the wounds caused by the weather.

But to him, they are lovely: just as she is.

The more time they spend together, the more they work together, the more he admires her...the more he worships her, this almost saintly figure.

She cannot make idols out of humans. But he can...

And as he bends to place his kiss to his holy of holies, he is only woken from his dream as she pulls her hand away.

X x x

His is the hand that examines her.

After that day, it seems like a nightmare that can't be true. She was scanning people for TB... she can't have it...

It is all she can do not to cry as he listens to her chest. She hates this. She hates the way he feels guilty for being skin to skin to her once more. She hates the way Sister Julienne smiles comfortingly and bravely: she hates that she is putting the two of them through this. The two people she cares for the most...

And she hates the fact he can't hold her hand.

X x x

His is the hand that passes her suitcase to her after he has driven her to the sanatorium. The two of them have no idea what's coming... the treatment can be miraculous.

But, it can also fail; the two of them know that.

They cannot speak of how they feel.

What would be the point?

She is in God's hands now.

X x x

His son's hands are the ones that hold onto the banister as he hides and watches his father.

He has a Henley in one hand, a pen in the other and a look of such sorrow on his face... the last time his son saw it, his mother was dying.

His father is losing another woman he loves, the boy knows who it is and is powerless.

Eventually, the pen touches the paper and glides along. No omissions. No holding back.

Time is of the essence and not to be wasted.

X x x

Hers are the hands that shake when she opens the letter. She has already all but foresworn to do so, but she has to know if his heart beats the way her own does.

The letter tells her more than she would ever have hoped for.

Her fingers caress the words as if they alone can cure her... later, in her most romantic moments, she can't be convinced that they weren't the cause of her recovery...

X x x

Hers are the hands which draw back the curtains and reveal to herself as who she truly is.

This woman in the mirror is clear minded, independent but no nun. Her faith has not been lost but strengthened. She understands that a love like the one she feels is no sin, nor could it ever be.

X x x

His are the hands the keep the wheel steady, even as he is terrified inside. She is too newly recovered to be out in this fog and if something happens to her, he will never get over it.

Not now. Not when they are on the cusp of _everything_.

X x x

His is the hand that lies on her forehead, checking she is well, putting her health ahead of all other things.

His are the hands that remove his coat and wrap it about her, so she is warm and safe. He has not yet said his marriage vows to her, but he holds and cherishes the woman he loves all the same.

He has never been more certain as he looks into her eyes. This is love.

This is knowing a soul more than a person, a heart more than a face. The separation is over... and soon, they will never apart again.

X x x

His sons are the hands that write the words his father cannot say, hoping they will be the roots for their family to grow...

His are the hands that pass over the jewellery box, with a nervous anticipation but a surety this can only end one way...

Hers is the hand that wears the ring, symbolising all that the three of them are to one another and all that they will be in the future.

Words: 1,283

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	38. Birth: Peter

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 38/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Birth**

It was only after his wife had come home that Peter Noakes found he was able to look at the birth of his son with real joy.

Ever since Camilla had told him she was with child while the two of them were in Africa, he had been excited. They had never really discussed whether or not they wanted children. He felt that they had had a silence agreement that they both did and that it would simply come to pass when the time was right.

And it many ways it had.

The two of them had been married, devotedly, for a year. They knew one another so very well by that point and although they would have remained happy as a pair, both were ready for a new challenge.

But the night his little Fred had come into the world had, in many ways, been the most tortured of Peter's life. The birth of his first born son should have been the happiest night of his life. As it was, he had spent it wondering if he was going to end up alone after it.

Thus, he could only truly breathe easy the first night he had both his wife and his child at Nonnatus with them again.

Camilla was well, but exhausted. As he crawled gently into bed by her side, he took her in his arms. She shut her eyes and quickly went to sleep, knowing it was not going to be so very long until her little bean wanted another feed.

Peter however, lay awake. He could hear the most beautiful sound.

His wife breathing in one ear and his son doing so in the other at the end of their bed.

Yes - he could take joy in his son now. As long as the three of them were together, he could be happy.

Words: 310

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	39. Sixth Sense: Peggy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 39/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Sixth Sense**

She did not know how or why but as soon as he said he was not feeling well, she knew their life together, the very happiest part of her life, was coming to a close.

He had been one of those who had welcomed her into the world and now she knew she had to see him out of it. And then who was going to be there to keep her safe?

"Sit down, Frank love, I'll get you some tea," she had said as she took his coat and let him sit down. He had had a hard day at Billingsgate and then at the market and on his rounds.

He did as she told him and before a lot of time has passed, he was doing a crossword.

As the kettle boiled, she wrapped her arms about herself and sighed. She told herself it was nothing more than her being silly. Nothing was going to happen... nothing bad. They had had all the bad in their life that they were going to.

Their parents dead before either of them were six, the workhouse, the war...

It was done with. They were for happiness now.

She jumped as a hand was laid on her shoulder.

"What is it, Peg?"

She turned to Frank. "Nothing - nothing at all," she said as she put his arms about him and held him tight.

It was the only lie she ever told him.

Words: 243

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	40. White: Chummy and Peter

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 40/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **White**

"How was it?" asked Peter as he and Camilla walked down the street arm in arm.

That morning when he had seen her, she had been in quite a state. Her mother had said she was going to come and take her for her wedding suit.

It was not the same sort of state she had been the day before she had come to tea but she had known it was not going to be pleasant. She had been brave when the two of them had been on the phone but she had not been entirely sure she was going to be able to keep it up in person.

"Not as awful as I thought it was going to be, but Mater tried to get me into every white gown we saw," she said as she raised her eye brows.

Peter smile. "You would look very pretty in white," he said innocently and teasingly, but somehow also sincerely.

"Well, we both know that I have no right to wear white at the wedding."

That was true, he supposed. He was not going to forget that afternoon ever. Not even when he was an old man. It was the night his life begun.

"You'll look lovely," he said to her without a single doubt in his voice. "Whatever you wear."

Words: 220

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	41. Dinner: Mrs Lacey and Bob

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 41/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - 2x07

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Dinner**

Bob had always been his mother's real love.

Ever since that baby came into the world with the bombs raining down above the shelter during the blitz, he had been her real reason for being.

Her little one had made her smile even when the two of them had all but been on the streets. When she had had no idea where they were going to lay their heads, before she had met John... before she had had a place to live but nowhere to really call home.

He had been her boy.

And he reminded her of that over that first dinner he had had with her when he had returned from the states that... he was **still** her boy.

And as such, he wanted the very best for her, as she did for him.

"He ain't treating you too bad, is 'e?" he asked as he slipped back into the cockney dialect which she noticed he had been at pains to hid from that American girl he had brought home with him.

"No worse than usually..."

But perhaps worse than he would have a chance to the next day.

She did not know if her son or that little nurse had given her, her courage back. Maybe it had been the two of them put together. But suddenly, Mrs Lacey felt brave.

Words: 225

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	42. School: Shelagh and Timothy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 42/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Future

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **School**

Shelagh had never had any problems with her Timothy. She had heard stories of stepmothers who had nightmares with their stepchildren. Where the two of them never got on and fought like cat and dog. How the children longed to get out of their childhood home as soon as they could, just to get away from her.

But for the two of them, it had never ever been like that.

They were friends before the two of them became mother and child. Perhaps they had needed one another. He was only a lad; he needed a mother, for he was far too young to be without one. And she had been without a family for so long... that she needed him too. She needed someone to take care of.

But it was only when she walked him to school for the very first time that she realised how much he loved her. How much he had accepted her, not that she had ever wanted to replace his real mother...

Even though he was ten, even though they were in full public view, he held her hand all the way to the school gates and then let her kiss his cheek before he ran into the play ground.

"See you tonight, mum!"

"Bye, son."

Words: 214

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	43. He: Multi-Character

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 43/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **He **

He was the boy she had seen grow up into a man. The two of them had known one another longer than she had cared to admit by the time she left for poplar, and it was only a few months before she had left that he had begun to talk about there being something more between them.

Jimmy was the man she was doomed to always wonder about. He was her 'what if'... Deep down, Jenny knew if there was one thing she was very much in possession of, then it was a romantic heart. And her childhood friend and what she felt for him, very occasionally, could fill every corner of it.

X x x

He was the man who made her feel in her proper place and at ease for the very first time in her life.

Peter was the one who made her laugh, who did not judge her for her size and who saw behind the spectacles and the posh accent to the women inside. He was the one who saw how much she had needed to be loved.

And the one who had fulfilled that wish, at long last.

X x x

He was the one who called her brave. She had never been called brave, before, not ever.

The Reverend may say too much for some people, but those words he had said to her: 'You are so brave,'... they had changed things for her. Every letter, let alone word, had been necessary.

She was not the young girl no one wanted anymore. She was a woman someone admired... some the Reverend Applebee-Thornton admired. And that changed a lot, actually.

It changed who she was in her own eyes, she thought as she read his latest pen letter.

X x x

He was the one who allowed her to let truth in. She had never thought she was going to be married, to be a wife, to have a family.

But there was more than one way to serve and to love her God. And to be a wife to Patrick and be a mother to Timothy... That was a service to God, she was sure of it. And it was the service she knew she was meant to perform. It was the service she, herself, longed to perform.

X x x

He was the one who took her out of herself. Jimmy, coming straight after Gerald, had hurt her. Both of them in their own ways, though Jenny had to admit some responsibility for Jimmy. If she had only known her own mind sooner.

But Alec... he was different... though not entirely. He was still handsome, just like they had been. But the two of them were new to one another.

And ever so occasionally, she liked change and new things. And he was one she certainly liked.

X x x

He was the one who kept the boiler working and the bikes in order.

Fred was the only constant male presence around Nonnatus. He was a brother and a father; he was a guardian and a friend. He rose a smile and kept the house warm.

And for that, the Sisters were grateful.

Words: 534

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	44. Black: Cynthia

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 44/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Black**

People wore black to funerals. That was the way it was. It was a mark of respect. Black dress or skirt suit for the girls. Black suits for the gents. Black arm bands all round.

But Cynthia did not think it had ever seemed sadder than the day when she had worn black to the funeral of the Kelly baby. She did not think it had ever seemed so dark.

Looking into the face of that poor childless mother, she just felt that black symbolised everything about the situation...

Because ever since the death of poor unfortunate Thomas, both of them had felt the crushing weight of what had happened on their shoulders. She did not think she was able to compare what she felt to what his mother felt...

Yet the hole she had been sucked into had been dark, so very, very dark.

It was only after that day and the post mortem she felt as if she could begin to climb out of it.

When she got back to Nonnatus, the black faded. Jenny wore yellow, Trixie red and the nuns, as ever, blue. And colour returned to her life.

Words: 194

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	45. New Year: Jenny and Cynthia

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 45/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **New Year**

"It is not a lot of fun being on call tonight, is it?" Cynthia said to Jenny as she came into the kitchen. While Chummy, Peter and Trixie had gone out dancing, like every other childless twenty something in Poplar, the two of them were waiting in for the phone to ring.

New Year babies were always lovely... but perhaps a little inconvenient to the midwife.

"I don't suppose we can really complain - Trixie and Chummy were on call over Christmas."

"Fair's fair," Cynthia agreed as she put the kettle on. "Tea?"

"Yes please."

The two of them fell silence for a moment before Cynthia turned back to her friend. "It was not a bad year was it? 1957?"

"I've had worse."

She was quite sure she had had better too... it had been a year of change for Jennifer Lee. At the beginning of it, she had been a secretary and on the verge of becoming a kept woman. A mistress, tucked away in a lovely, but secret, London flat.

Instead of that, she was ending the year as one of the midwives of the East End. She would say that she was one of the hardest working women in the district... but that title belonged to every mother who was struggling to bring up seven or more children in Poplar.

"It's funny. When I was getting dressed this morning, I put a record on and I saw the one Mr Jones sent to me. It is going to be his first new year without Mrs Jones."

The two of them looked at one another. Jenny did not need to know why she was thinking about him. There were some cases which simply stuck with you. And would until old age.

"I know what you mean. I can't think that the New Year is going to be a kinder place to poor Mary... her Kathleen is being tucked up tonight by another woman... maybe she has already called her mummy for the first time..." but then Jenny shook her head. It was so easy to remember the cases which you felt, against all odds, you had failed. When in all reality there was no way you could have succeeded. y

"But then I think about Mr. and Mrs. Warren. Their celebrating the New Year with their new baby."

"They've got one delivered by of us now." she said as she raised a smile. "And Mr. Lawson is welcoming in the New Year with his son."

"The two of them are utterly adorable when they come to clinic together. I hope I can love like he does one day."

There was a pureness, a blindness to it that Jenny could not help but admire.

Cynthia nodded. "Me too."

Spirits restored, the two of them drunk their tea, while Jenny showed Cynthia the new dress pattern she had received as a gift from her mother for Christmas.

"It's beautiful."

"Trixie would never approve of course, it needs three layers... but I think maybe I can bribe Chummy into helping me make it when she is here on call."

"She'll be glad to help."

The two girls spent the evening laughing and chatting and occasionally lapsing into the easiest of silences which could only exist between the two best friends. And before they knew it, midnight was fast approaching.

"Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one!"

The young midwives embraced.

"1958 - I wonder what it is going to bring to us!" Cynthia enthused and was soon answered by the ringing of the telephone. Jenny got up.

"More of the same, apparently!" she said as she went into the hallway. "Nonnatus House, midwife speaking."

"Midwife! It was the excitement of the New Year - sent my wife into labour! Can you come?" a panic stricken voice said on the end of the line.

"Of course - now give me your wife's name?"

Words: 654

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	46. Ends: End of WWII

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 46/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Ends**

Sister Julienne did not think she was ever going to forget the way she remembered the war had at last come to an end. It had been Sister Evangelina who had come to her with tears running down her face.

"He has done it! He has only bloody well done it!" she had said as she threw her arms about Sister Julienne.

"Who has done what?"

"Winnie. He has won the war!" and that was how she learned it was VE day.

Of course, they had all been expecting it for a while, since before the beginning of the year. But when the news came it was like _- it was_ - a gift from God.

Dolly and Marlene, Peggy and Elizabeth Gardener, the young orderly who had been staying with them to be nearer to her sweetheart, Patrick Turner, when he came home on leave, stayed in with the nuns for half an hour easting cake and drinking tea before the headed off to the Mall.

They would have a wonderful time. They were going to dance with the rest of the young people until god knows when... curfew would be broken.

"I can't believe it is all at an end... no more bombs, no more doodle bugs. We're safe," Sister Monica Joan said as looked out over the East End she said as she stood on the stairs of Nonnatus.

By her side, the two younger nuns smiled. "It has been a hard six years."

"Very hard," Sister Evangelina sighed. "And you know it is not going to get any easier in other ways. It is not bombs we have to be worrying about anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"The men are coming home. Their wives are going to be welcoming them home with open arms and warm beds," she said as the customary grimace came over her face. "Ladies, this is the beginning, not the end. Mark my words, in nine months time, we are going to be busier than ever before."

Words: 336

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Author Note: Elizabeth Gardener is my own character, who in my head canon goes on to become Timothy's mother.


	47. Too Much: Trixie

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 47/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Too Much**

Trixie felt for Jenny that night when she said she felt like it was just too much for her. How well she understood that feeling. How well she knew it...

When she had got to the East End, it had been nothing like she had thought it was going to be... by the end of the first week, she had forgotten what she thought it was going to be... only she had not found it, whatever it had been. It was so much worse, in so many ways.

It was not the extremeness of the poverty, the roughness of the men who were trying their best to feed their family on next to nothing and the cheerful hopelessness of the mothers who had no choice but to go on.

It was during that first month when she had worked out who were the heroes and villains of the East End. It had taken longer to figure out where she came in on the scale.

Her work was good, if it was not always done by the time it was meant too. She was a natural with the babies at the Tuesday clinic. And she got her extra study done. And for a while she had thought that put her at the top of the tree.

A few dressing downs from Sister Evangelina had put her straight about that. She was not even close.

"Don't worry," Sister Bernadette had said to her as she put her hand on her arm gently. It was after a particularly tough day that the youngest of the nuns at Nonnatus had seen her all but on the verge of tears. "You are going to find your feet."

That was what she had been told. And that was what she told Jenny... because it was true.

She had found her feet. So much so that she was able to work, enjoy and indulge her fabulous fashion sense and have a sneaky smoke when she wanted one without needing to feel stressed first. She found a way to laugh through the pain, to the point where it stopped hurting. She found a way to see all the love that was covered up by the three inches of dirt in the East End.

Once you learned to love the place... it was then that it no longer felt too much...

And that was when Trixie felt she had just enough strength in her to live and work there.

Words: 412

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	48. Food: Gillian Redmond

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 48/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

The Very Stuff of Life

Prompt: **Food**

"Is this for the searchers?" asked Trixie as she looked as the food which was piled high on the kitchen table.

"Yes - those poor men are working on the docks all day and then as soon as they finished, they are going out to look for that poor baby."

"How are Mr and Mrs Redmond?"

"Mr Redmond is doing as well as he can, but Mrs Redmond is sinking into silence," said Sister Julienne as she put some of the food into a smaller box. "I am just about go and take this round to the two of them now, see if I can get that poor woman to eat something."

"Just thinking about all that they had been through makes me feel sick. I have no idea how she is getting through this."

"By believing she is going to be reunited with her daughter and through our prayers," said the nun as she left the blonde in the kitchen making a cup of tea.

If she was not on call, she'd be out there too, serving up the soup to the searechers.

"It is a big East End, but there are plenty of people in it," said the Mother Abbess as she turned back. "We'll find her."

"I know that."

Words: 213

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	49. Spring: Jenny and Trixie

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 49/100

Universe - Future

Series 2 spoilers - 2x08 kinda

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Spring**

It felt so very wrong to Jenny that Nonnatus House should close on a bright spring day. That it should shut at all seemed alien to her, and foolish, but modernity rushed on whether they liked it or not. It seemed as if the way of life they had all been practising for the past two years was to be consigned to the past. Whether they wanted it to be or not.

If it had to shut at all, she wished it had done so on the blackest, bleakest day. Then it could have matched what was in her heart at that moment.

"I grew up here," she heard Trixie say from her side.

Jenny nodded and took her friends hand in her own. In the real ways, all four of them had. The two of them and Chummy and Cynthia. They had not been children, but yet they had grown up together.

They had learnt about the real world... about poverty, about pain, about love and fear, and all that it brought.

"So did I. When I think about everything, about Chummy getting married and having Fred and me meeting Alec... and meeting all of you... becoming sisters really."

"Don't, Jenny," the blonde said as she lit up a cigarette. She was fighting back the tears enough as it was. "Come on,"

The two of them stepped down off of the steps of the convent which had been their home. The girls linked arms. "I thought I would be happy to be the last to leave but it feels wretched."

"Sister Julienne said she was going to call the hospital tonight to make sure that it went ok."

_The hospital where she was going to be a ward sister and started climbing the greasy pole. _

Trixie nodded. "She has had a hard few months. It is going to be hard on her to live so far away from the Turners."

"Doctor Turner said they were going to make the drive to see her each Sunday. Little Bethan will want to see her godmother."

"Then I know they will... still, I don't think Nonnatus has been the same for Sister Julienne since..." Trixie trailed off. She did not need to finish that sentence.

"I looked out of the window and saw Sister Evangelina tending the grave... and she got upset while talking with Fred... he said he was going to look after the grave every Sunday," said Jenny as tears filled her eyes. She couldn't say anything for a moment...

"The one comfort in all of this," Trixie commented, "was that Sister Monica Joan passed on before all this happened."

"Her heart was here. She couldn't have left. That would have -"

The two of them feel silent. Knowing that if she did not turn round soon then she was not going to be able to see the convent, Jenny did so right there and then.

This place was imprinted on her. She was never going to forget it, and why on earth would she want too?

"I am never going to forget the last two years. Never. They'll stay with me until I die."

"We have quite the tale to tell..."

"And maybe one day, one of us will tell it..."

Words: 544

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	50. Team Mates: Shelagh and Patrick

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 50/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None/Future

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Team Mates**

"Give her to me."

"Darling, you got in two hours ago in the dead of night... you're going to be up again at the crack of dawn," the exhausted Scottish voice sighed over the scream of the six week old baby. "Go and get some sleep."

"Give her to me."

There were not many times that Patrick could over rule Shelagh in their own home, but that night, she conceded. The past six weeks had been the happiest of her life... but for some reason that night, Bethan was not playing. Not at all.

"Shhh, shhh," Patrick made nonsense noises as his wife passed their daughter over to him. "It's ok, my little one," he whispered as he cradled her.

Shelagh took the opportunity to sit down on the sofa. She loved being a mother. More than anything. But it was exhausting... it was the hardest work she had ever done in her life.

"How do you do that?" she asked once Patrick had settled their daughter and sat by her side.

"Practice... try to remember this is my second time around this particular block..." he reminded her as she put his hand through his arm and put her head on his shoulder.

"I just - " Shelagh broke off.

"What?" normally, Patrick might leave it if she wanted to keep her consul. That was up to her. As much as the two of them were passionately in love, he respected the fact there were certain parts of herself she would reveal only when she was good and ready. But this did not seem the appropriate tiome to do so. She was vulnerable, at that moment more than ever. As a new mother, she needed him. "Talk to me."

"I don't think I'm very good at this-s," she admitted as she swallowed a thump in her thrown.

She had been so excited when she had learnt she was pregnant: she had been even happier when she had her baby girl. It had seemed like the perfect addition to their family. But in all her years of being a midwife, she had never realised how hard and unrelenting motherhood was.

"You are a fantastic mother."

"I am exhausted all the time."

"You are patient and loving all of the time," he reminded her as he put his lips to her forehead. "You are gentle all the time."

"I just don't - I could not bear it if I let the three of you down."

"That's not possible," Patrick stated simply. The two of them looked at one another. "We are in this together, you, I, Bethan and Timothy. We're a family, a team... she adores you, you know?" he smiled down on his daughter. "You had a rough day, you're both tired. Tomorrow will be better." he promised.

Nodding, Shelagh shut her eyes. "I love you so much," she admitted as she soaked up his reassurances.

"And I love you, my darling, darling wife."

Words: 495

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	51. Yellow: Jenny and Jimmy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 51/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Yellow**

As he got older, Jimmy always remembered Jenny the way she had been when he had first turned up in London. He had hoped that she was going to be kind enough to take pity on him but he had had no real way of knowing - especially not after he had learnt she was living at a convent!

The thought of Jenny taking holy vows seemed ridiculous to him but until he had spoken to her, he had considered the possibility. She had never had much of a love life, so it seemed to him. That was a regret of his...

Or it had been.

To him, she would always remain the Jenny Lee she had been the day she had conned him into helping her to take old Joe Collett to the military reunion. She would always be the passionate, free speaking, beautiful young woman who for a short time he had been so in love with.

And she would always be dressed in yellow.

Words: 167

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	52. Blue: Ruby

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 52/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Blue**

"Douglas, come and look at this."

Duggie had been in the living room with his two little princesses when he had heard Ruby call to him in a voice that left no room for doubt as to her mood: she was happy and excited.

The former he wanted her to be for all of her days. She was the woman he loved (the only woman he would ever love) and it was his job to make sure she was happy. The latter, concerned him, if only a little.

His mother always said that when woman were nearing their time they should be kept calm, and he liked to listen to his mother, even if his wife did not. Still, he would not be the one to bring her mood down. He would not trade that her smile for all the money in the world. Strolling into the kitchen, he looked at _her _for a moment, rather than what she wished him to look at.

She was a beautiful woman. Not just because of her clear complexion and her stunning red hair, but also because of the way that her eyes sparkled. And when she was pregnant with their babies, they shone even more

"Get that look off of your face. None of that until the little one is here," she told him in no uncertain terms as she rested a hand on her swollen belly. Walking towards him, she showed him what she had called him through for and placed two tiny blue booties in his hands. "For the little one."

"We don't know it is a boy yet. We seem to be pretty good at making girls."

"I know he's a boy," she said with her usual certainty, pushing her own lips to his.

Words: 295

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	53. Fragile: Trixie and Cynthia

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 53/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Heart**

"Cynthia, are you awake?"

The knock on the door was tentative and not at all like Trixie. She did not normally have to be asked to come into a room.

The petite brunette sat up in bed immediately. Nothing about the night had been normal.

"Come in."

No, she had not been asleep. She was too angry over what had happened to Trixie to sleep. Clive was a cad and much, much worse. She did not think she was in possession of the language which was needed to describe a man like that.

The only reason she had even gone to bed that night was because she was sure Trixie had already gone to sleep - she was sure she had been snoozing when Jenny and her had finally left her.

But now the poor thing was most definitely awake again. It was no wonder. Cynthia had a feeling Trixie was going to have trouble relaxing for a while.

"Yes."

The blonde came into the room and sniffed. Her eyes were still red and Trixie knew she was going to need another night cap and another cigarette if she _was_ going to get to sleep. Crawling into bed next to her very best friend, Trixie put her head on the pillow next to Cynthia.

"I wanted to say to you I was sorry."

"Don't you dare. You have nothing to be sorry for. What happened tonight was not your - "

"I know it was not my fault - but when I was in bed tonight, I thought about that day when you were getting ready to go to see the Jones' and you were talking about soul mates ... and I made fun of you ..."

Cynthia tried to hush her friend as she put her arms about her, trying to reassure her it didn't matter.

"I had no idea how fragile the heart could be." Tears spilled down Trixie's cheeks.

It was not as if she was in love with Clive... but her heart had got hurt never the less. She had been _so _excited. She had thought she was going to have a wonderful time with a gentleman.

She had not got that.

"Shh, don't you dare worry," Cynthia said as she continued to cuddle her friend. "Just relax and shut your eyes."

"I hate men."

"I know you do."

"But I love you and Jenny. Thank you Cynthia..."

Shutting her own eyes, the smaller nurse nodded.

"I love you too... and I never had a real sister before... so thank _you_, Trixie."

Words: 427

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	54. Fire: Fred and Dolly

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 54/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - None

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt: **Fire**

In the years after the war, Fred's house, though warm in familial love, was a pretty cold place.

For Marlene and himself, that was quite the hit, yet after that one day when he did light a fire, he dare not do it again... he did not want to panic Dolly a second time. He had been away from the girls for six years... it was only really that day when he came to** really** understand that and the implications.

His little Dolly was a stoic young woman, but all it had taken was for him to light one fire not four days after they had moved into the new house and she had panicked. For a moment he had been so confused - then he had looked into the eyes of his daughter and he had made the blitz connection.

Fred had gone to war, but the war had come to his family. And he was not the only one still suffering the after effect... it was not simply the fact that their family was so reduced, that grief was their constant companion... it was that the littlest things could bring it all back.

He had put the fire out before cuddling and calming his child.

And he had did not light another fire until she was ready for him to do so.

Words: 222

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	55. Rain: Jenny Lee

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 55/100

Universe - Canon/Future

Series 2 spoilers - kinda.

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Rain**

"Why is it you always smile at the rain?" asked Alec one night after he and Jenny had been out to dinner - the seventh time he had taken her for dinner so far, if he was correct.

Slowly, but surely, he was peeling back the layers of Jenny Lee and if anything, was more fascinated by her than he had been that night when the two of them had sat out under the stars together.

He was slowly, but surely, falling for this beautiful, beautiful woman. And it wasn't because she was beautiful... it was so much more than that.

Now that they were safely inside, he was able to observe her, glass of wine in hand, looking out of the window, a soft smile playing on her face... an image that was going to be engraved into his mind for quite some time.

"It makes me think of when I first came to the East End. Cynthia and I were going out on our rounds together - I think we had a booking in, three final home visits and two checkups to do, but when we opened the convent doors it was pouring down... we still had to go, of course. We screamed all the way down the steps till we got to the bike sheds," she laughed a little at the memory. The two of them had been so young in that moment. "It was one of the first times I was truly happy since I'd arrived," she explained as she left the window to sit by his side of the sofa.

"So there are some happy memories from those first few days?"

It had not felt like she had been creating any at the time, but the truth was she had.

Sipping her wine, she nodded and said the one word she had thought she never would, once upon a time.

"Lots."

Words: 317

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	56. Independence: Jane

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 56/100

Universe - Canon

Series 2 spoilers - Ok, I don't think I need this anymore - we've all seen series 2, now right? There are some for this chapter, but this will be the last 'warning' so to speak.

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Independence**

As far as Jane was concerned, there was no greater gift of that of independence.

When she had been a child, she had been dependent on her parents. That had not... that had not lasted... When she had been in the institution, she had been dependent on those around her. They had taken care of her, but it had never been the way she had needed to be taken care of. When she had got to Nonnatus, she had been dependent on Sister Julienne. That was when she changed. That was when she was allowed to change.

The Mother Superior had been so kind to her, faultlessly so. She had been the one to be unfailingly patient, explaining things twice or even three times. She had never shown her annoyance. She had never shouted.

She had merely acceded to Jane's request for help as if it was exactly what she wanted to do, as if it was the_ only_ thing she wanted too.

Slowly, but surely, no doubt due to the aid she had been offered in those first few months, Jane stopped going to the nun for help so much. She didn't have so many questions. She was able to do things for herself.

Slowly but surely, she was giving the gift of independence - and it was priceless. It was born from help, thrived on belief and was fed by calmness.

X x x

Three years after the closing of the convent which gave her the strength to be herself for the first time, Jane mused in her comfortable, warm sitting room, that independence did not have to mean loneliness.

It did not have to mean you couldn't turn to others for affection, for safety.

Perhaps it just meant they could turn to you as well.

Had she not had that time to be strong for herself however, she knew she would never be where she was in her life then. And she loved where she was.

She was home.

"Here you are, my dear," said her husband as he placed a cup of tea by her side and allowed her to continue reading her book in peace as he picked the newspaper up. Before he sat down though, he placed one of the tender kisses she so loved to her forehead.

Allowing her lips to turn into a smile, she observed her Reverend as he relaxed in the matching arm chair next to her own.

"Thank you," she said reaching out for his hand. They settled into a comfortable silence.

Words: 424

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	57. Shade: Peter and Chummy

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 57/100

Universe - Canon

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Shade**

"It is so hot today," said Camilla, as she came to sit by her husband in the shade of a tree.

Africa had been everything she had hoped it was going to be - and the longer she and Peter were there, the more she felt as if she was really achieving something. Every time she helped a little baby into the world, she felt that more and more.

But, in spite of herself, she found she was occasionally longing for England's climate. And that was something she had thought she would never do, she thought as she fanned herself in an attempt to combat the humidity which the midday sun brought.

Peter put an arm around her as she put her head on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

"We are not in Poplar anymore, that's for sure," he said as he pushed his lips to her forehead.

Nodding, it was not long before Mrs Noakes begun to doze, wrapped in the blissful combination of her husband's love and the feeling she was truly making a difference. And after a life time of wishing to be different, she found she liked herself just the way she was.

Words: 198

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	58. Summer: The Reverend and Jane

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 46/100

Universe - Canon

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Summer**

At summers end, the garden which the wife of Reverend Applebee-Thornton tended was over flowing, and he was not surprised at all.

Just six months had passed since he and the women he was utterly devoted to had moved out to the country. Only eight had passed since he had finally convinced her that he could know no greater happiness than if she would consent to be his wife.

It was a marriage of souls, hearts and minds. It was a married a balance, with his endless chatter and her calming silence. While he lead her into a world where socialising was not something to feel anxious over but enjoy, she taught him that quietness could bring him no harm at all.

Looking out into the garden was a favourite past time of his in the morning. Jane, so unlike she had been, skittish and ready to run and hide when the two of them had first met, now took her time in the mornings to wake up, walking about her garden. A fairy queen.

He smiled at her quirks, the relaxed way she walked barefooted, the way she nursed her cup of tea. Her hair, no longer tied stiffly back into a sharp bun, feel down to her shoulders and tousled in the wind a little.

A smile tugged at his lips as she removed any heads which had not survived the night, before she located the sun in the sky and simply stood in her light for a moment, allowing her entire being to be warmed through before she returned to the house, one she was proud to keep.

He was no Mr Darcy... he knew he had the appearance of Mr Collins in fact... but Jane was no Charlotte Lucas, and the steel in her soul was twice Austen had put into a certain Miss Bennett's.

Crossing to his desk, he sat down to his correspondence, a task he would complete faithfully, but quickly - in time for lunch with any luck... summer was upon them, and the picnic bask was just asking to be filled. Besides, how many summers days had he wasted, spent without her who had taught him so much?

He would not waste another.

Words: 370

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	59. Mary: Colourless

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 59/100

Universe - Canon

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** Colourless**

Ireland was green - that was what Mary recalled when she thought of her earliest childhood. Of the green which surrounded her home. How the weeds outside her cottage were green, how the fields, covered in grass were green. The green leaves of the trees blocked the blue of the sky. Green was the colour of innocence.

Her mother's mourning dress was black - her mother alone had got a new dress for her father's funeral. It had matched the feeling inside of Mary's soul. It had matched the cloudy, starless sky from which rain poured unrelenting. Black was the colour of grief.

The ship which carried Mary to England was grey - it seemed so much brighter than it was. It allowed the light in when the black had not. It seemed to suggest to her that easier times were coming for her... that one day soon, she would arrive at something white - something pure.

Jenny was yellow - at least, her scarf was. The young midwife had so much hope about her. She was the late spring to Mary's early autumn. The innocence which she had never been allowed to keep was clearly in abundance when it came to the young lady whose dresses swished as she walked.

When she arrived at the nursing home, she came full circle... just like Ireland, it was green. Flowers grew in the gardens she walked in as she awaited her coming labour. It was the first colour she saw when she looked out of her room in the morning. It was the last colour she saw at night before she went to pray.

And Kathleen? Kathleen was the white - she was pure - she was unspoiled - she was beautiful...

And after Kathleen? The world was colourless. There was nothing. And no one.

Words: 305

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	60. And: Peggy and Frank

Call the Midwife - FF 100, 60/100

Universe - Canon

**The Very Stuff of Life**

Prompt:** And**

'And', contrary to the belief of a lot of people was not just a word. It was more than that. It was a force for good in the world, or so Peggy believed. It brought things together.

It set them side by side and joined them.

Fish and chips.

Pie and mash.

Frank and Peggy.

In her own modest opinion they were the best things in the world. Once more contra to popular opinion, she was not a stupid women...

'And' was very much capable of united darkness as well. She knew that.

Separation and loneliness.

Cruelty and pain.

War and poverty.

But if there was one thing life had taught her, it was that it did not do to dwell on such things. Because that was not what life was really like. Not for her.

For her, life was about getting into bed next to the man she loved. It was about the two of them going out and about together at the weekend. About the two of them eating together at the end of the day.

And that was why she loved to focus on the good things in life – because she had so many of them.

Words: 200

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